The Municipality of Jasper is busy working out the details to potentially help the Anglican Church and United Church jointly rebuild from the 2024 wildfire.

Beth Sanders, director of Urban Design and Standards, told committee of the whole on Tuesday (Aug. 11) that one of the main focuses will be development planning. This will involve preparing a concept plan for redevelopment of the sites, which may include the municipally controlled parking area between the two sites.

Other tasks include preparing forward-looking financials, determining an ownership model for worship space and assessing the project’s feasibility.

“Once those kinds of things are fleshed out further, then we recognize that all three organizations — so each of the churches but also the Municipality of Jasper — will have to make a decision on whether or not this is something we wish to proceed with,” Sanders said.

In April, the Municipality entered into a memorandum of understanding with the churches to explore creating a multi-faith worship place, a multi-purpose community space, community offices and housing. This housing could be below-market and/or for seniors.

Both the Municipality and the churches have since engaged with the community on the project, including two workshops that 46 people attended in late June.

Participants indicated that the church sites had served many essential functions prior to the wildfire, such as providing a place of worship, facilitating formal ceremonies and offering community spaces.

“It was very clear that at a minimum, the church sites should continue to contribute to community life in Jasper,” Sanders said.

Some additional ideas for redevelopment, among others, included offering housing, a community centre or a hall, a seniors’ centre, a garden space and a memorial for the wildfire and/or the late firefighter Morgan Kitchen.

Should the project go forward, the churches would contribute the land and equity, support the pursuit of grant funding and philanthropic capital and be involved in designing, particularly the multi-faith worship place. The Municipality would receive the land as well as equity for developing, building, managing and operating the project.

Sanders said once the proposal is fleshed out, administration would return to council to present explicit proposals with financial implications.

The first would be a memorandum of agreement that would include the terms for a lease transfer and allow the parties to undertake construction planning. Sanders said both administration and the churches’ consultant hoped to finish construction planning by January.

“We’re very well aware that this can’t take years and years and years, because nobody has the energy for that,” she said.

Wastewater lagoon project

The Municipality may recommission and upgrade a lagoon at the wastewater treatment plant with the help of a federal grant.

Vidal Michaud, acting project manager with Operations and Utilities, said the project was necessary to meet the Municipality’s obligations under its wastewater treatment plant operating licence.

“The lagoon will provide emergency storage during treatment disruptions as well as provide temporary peak flows that can exceed current treatment capacity,” Michaud said.

The project would cost $4.8 million, with the Municipality contributing $336,000.

Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada would be able to cover 50 per cent of the cost through its Build Communities Strong Fund. The Municipality has also secured over $2 million in provincial funding through the Alberta Municipal Water/Wastewater Partnership.

Council will decide next week whether to endorse the project and authorize the municipality to enter into the funding agreement with the federal government.

Community Kitchen dinnerware

Council is undecided on whether to replace the dinnerware for Jasper Activity Centre’s Community Kitchen with a standardized set.

Christopher Read, director of Community Development, said the existing dinnerware has been accumulated over time through municipal purchases and donations from local hotels. As a result, the inventory includes a range of styles, sizes, colours and patterns.

“The current inventory is sufficient to meet the operational requirements of the community kitchen,” Read said. “Administration has not identified a shortage or other functional issue that prevents the kitchen from supporting community gatherings, private rentals or larger events.”

While acknowledging a standardized dinnerware set would improve the consistency and appearance of table settings, he noted pieces would need to be replaced over time, and maintaining a consistent pattern could become difficult if the product is discontinued.

As well, the new inventory would require storage space, and administration would need to decide what to do with the existing dinnerware.

No funding has been allocated for the proposal. Read said administration has gotten a quote of nearly $12,000 to purchase a new and complete 400-count dinnerware set.

Coun. Laurie Rodger said he thought it was an “unnecessary expense,” but Coun. Danny Frechette it would be useful to have a standardized set for more formal events.

Committee referred the matter to fall budget discussions.

Peter Shokeir, Local Journalism Initiative // info@thejasperlocal.com