Highlights from Monday’s meeting of Grande Prairie City Council

Grande Prairie City Council met on Monday. The highlights included the following:

– Council has asked staff to start an education campaign on feral rabbits. About a dozen people from the Swanavon area came to council’s meeting. A two person delegation talked about the increasing number of rabbits that are ruining lawns, eating gardens and digging holes that create a safety hazard for people, especially seniors. Council also asked city staff to compile a report on other options to deal with the rabbits.

– Council approved a motion asking city staff to meet with Nitehawk about what it terms “the best option to reopen the driving range” at the Bear Paw Par 3 golf course. A delegation from Nitehawk made a presentation to council saying they had done another assessment on the poles around the range. One pole has deteriorated to the point that it is fenced off. The delegation says replacing it would cost about $3,000. They add about 20 people a day have been turned away from the driving range, plus others that see signs saying the range is closed and leave. The delegation has also asked that $47,000 set aside to take down the range be redirected towards a study looking at the cost to replace all the poles. Councillors also want administration to look at complaints about golf balls ending up on property outside of the range.

– Council approved redirecting just under $397,000 towards the armouring project on the spillway on the dam in Muskoseepi Park. A budget of $1.7 million had been approved for this work, but the tender came in at just over $2 million. Adding in engineering costs left a shortfall of just over half a million dollars, but part of that was covered with other money form the spillway project. The city is legally obligated to do this work. City staff say using money from a source that is already approved would allow construction to start this year.