Plan for Bezanson improvements approved at County Council

County of Grande Prairie Council has approved a new plan for future upgrades in Bezanson.
 
Director of Planning and Development Nick Lapp says the County worked with the community for two years to come up with this plan.
 
“We’re of course aware that they’re constructing a new community facility in the area and looking to improve some of the open space that’s part of that facility.  We found there’s an opportunity to take a closer look at the street that we maintain through the hamlet and look at doing some improvements as far as some of the aesthetic appearances, some of the landscaping that’s currently there.”
 
He adds this plan will guide future budgeting and design work.
 
“The plan itself contemplates a number of features; trees being one, some parking areas set aside for some of the larger truck traffic. (There’s also) a trail system that would be incorporated into the streetscape itself and provide pedestrian access through the rest of the hamlet.”
 
Those trails would link up with places like Lefty’s Cafe and the new community centre.  There would also be benches and hitching posts along the trails, as a lot of community people told the County they used to ride their horses to school.
 
Lapp says the community felt it was important to have areas where the big trucks could park.
 
“The large truck traffic and recreational vehicle traffic is important to the local economy. It supports the current commercial uses that are located in the hamlet and provides business an opportunity to operate.” 
 
The estimated cost is just over $2.385-million, more than half of that taken up by that new pavement on Main Street.
 
It is not known when the improvements included in this plan will actually be put in place.