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Thursday, May 17, 2018
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Downtown parking disrupted
Cinema construction underway By John Cairns Staff Reporter
Summer-like conditions made for a great day for track and field action Saturday in North Battleford at the SOLE-stice Classic hosted by the North Battlefords Legion Track Club. Photo by Lucas Punkari
Sports Badminton pair win gold Page 22
News
Samborski to retire Page 7
Feature
Champions of Mental Health Page 8
Old bridges must be addressed: Leslie By John Cairns Staff Reporter
News that the old Battleford bridges are “no longer safe,” in the words of Mayor Ames Leslie, surprised Battleford residents in the audience of the recent state of the City/Town of theaddress at Western Development Museum. Leslie told the audience the bridge, which serves as the lone artery to Finlayson Island, needs urgent attention. He said town council will need to make deci-
sions within the “next six months” as to what the viability of the bridges will be. Decisions town council will make on that issue will have wide reach, as Finlayson Island is a prominent attraction for those who like nature and the outdoors in the Battlefords. There are implications for tourism marketing for both Battleford and North Battleford, who share responsibility for the river valley. The immediate focus of attention is on the south
bridge, which connects Battleford to Finlayson Island. This is the only portion by which vehicular traffic can access the island. But deterioration is evident. Cracked asphalt and potholes can be found on the south bridge itself. As for the north bridge, which connects North Battleford to the island, it was closed to vehicles years ago, with only foot and cycle traffic still allowed there. Continued on Page 3
Construction work has begun on the new Magic Lantern cinema complex in downtown North Battleford. Director of Planning and Development Jennifer Niesink confirmed at Monday’s meeting of North Battleford city council that the first shovel went in the ground that day at the lot south of 11th Avenue and west of 101st Street. She said temporary service lines were put in Monday, and construction activity would ramp up Tuesday. “It will take about a year,” said Niesink of the timeline for completion. The space for the cinema, as well as an adjacent lot to the west, are barricaded. That means vehicles can no longer park at those locations, even though it was not an actual parking lot to begin with. The reason both lots are closed off is the City is obliged to provide a landing space for the heavy equipment being used, explained Mayor Ryan Bater. Eventually, the west
lot will be developed into a parking lot that will include paid parking during weekdays. The new cinema is to be built on the corner of 11th Avenue and 101st Street. Already, activity is apparent at the downtown location. Orange barricades were up Tuesday as workers were on the scene. By Wednesday, a blue fence was put up and surrounded the downtown lots along Railway Avenue and 11th Avenue. While no heavy equipment was on the site this week, that is expected to change soon. Putting in the foundation in will be the focus of the construction early on, and that is expected to begin over the coming week. With the two lots closed, the concern is about parking congestion in the rest of downtown. Councillor Kelli Hawtin, who had inquired about activity at the lots, asked about whether the city would be enforcing two-hour parking downtown. Niesink confirmed that would be happening and would bring back a report on that at a later meeting.
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