At this time, we present our annual year in review, looking back at the events of 2012 as recorded in the pages of the Creston Valley Advance.
April
5 — Early morning commuters used to taking the Old Kootenay Channel Bridge were told to detour along West Creston Road, when the bridge was slated to be closed to traffic from 6-7 a.m. April 10-15.
Seismic 2000 Construction Ltd., the general contractor for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, would spend about six months on the project, which involved rehabilitation of the bridge substructure, deck patching and joint replacement.
•Construction on Creston’s waste water treatment plant upgrade project was a step closer to starting, after Creston town council awarded the contract to the team of Maple Reinders and Urban Systems at its March 27 meeting.
The joint Maple Reinders-Urban Sytems bid came in at $5,785,000, well below the $8,038,000 bid by Graham and AECOM, which was over the project’s $7.1 million budget, which will be split between the Town of Creston, and federal and provincial infrastructure grants.
•Creston town council passed three readings of the town’s 2012-2016 financial plan at the March 27 meeting, following a presentation by finance and corporate services director Steffan Klassen.
Approved on April 10, the five-year plan would see a 12.5 per cent tax increase to homeowners’ gross tax bills at the end of five years, which covers a 36 per cent municipal tax increase due to the transfer of RCMP costs to the town when the 2011 census found the population was over 5,000. Taxation due to police costs started with a 3.3 per cent increase in 2012, and a $1.1 million reserve fund would help smooth the tax increase more evenly over the next five years.
12 — Rick Hansen would not be coming to the Creston Valley with the relay that bore his name, but local residents wouldn’t miss out on the excitement. The relay, which will include 13 locals, stopped at Yahk and Erickson elementary schools and Prince Charles Secondary School, and pass by Adam Robertson Elementary School on its way out of Creston.
It would arrive on April 18, carried by Harry Haberstock, at the Creston and District Community Complex, and leave from PCSS April 19, with Morgan Fleck as the day’s first medal bearer.
•An online petition with over 240 signatures asked B.C. Transportation and Infrastructure Minster Blair Lekstrom to restore the former sailing times of the Kootenay Lake ferries.
Citing health, economic viability, social development, work opportunities and shopping in Nelson, Castlegar and Kaslo, the petition was created by East Shore resident Nicole Plouffe in mid-March, with the goal of reaching 500 signatures.
“This isn’t a fight against anything,” she said. “This is a creative way of problem-solving. This is a good opportunity to look at it from a different perspective and hopefully help. … No one is asking for more, we’re just asking for a revision of what is.”
19 — A $400,000 grant from the Ministry of Community, Sport, and Cultural Development’s community recreation program was a boost to the town’s trails network. The grant was 80 per cent of funding that would see improvements made to Creston’s trails, with the town, and the Creston and Creston Valley Rotary clubs adding $80,000 to the project.
“We’re planning on paving all the trails we’ve ever done, including Steve’s Ride,” said Coun. Judy Gadicke.
•The Lower Kootenay Band wanted to change the way some locals see the band, so it planned an open house on April 25.
“We want to showcase what the band has to offer,” said Chief Jason Louie. “Unfortunately, there have been a lot of stereotypes over the years. ... We are a legitimate government and our goal is to strive for excellence.”
26 — The annual sturgeon release at the former West Creston ferry landing was a popular event on April 18, when spectators and participants packed the area for the chance to release a juvenile white sturgeon into the Kootenay River. A total of 2,600 were released, with Creston area schools placing 1,600 into the river in the morning, and the public releasing 1,000 later in the day.
•Several years of investment in upgrades to the Creston landfill landed the site a Crystal Moose Award for the most improved landfill in B.C. The award is given annually by the consulting firm of Sperling Hansen Associates, the province’s landfill specialists.
The improvements included bear fencing, cutting back and stabilizing slopes, blasting to expand usability of the site and provide rock products that don’t need to be trucked in, and the first phase of a closure plan, in which filled areas are covered with a geo-membrane, then grassed over.
•Nearly 300 East Shore residents who signed a petition encouraging the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to restore the former sailing times of the Kootenay Lake ferries weren’t likely to have their request granted.
“The ministry is always willing to consider requests for service changes to meet the needs of residents who rely on inland ferry service,” a ministry spokesperson told the Advance. “However, extending the operating hours would increase labour and other operating costs, and the current fiscal climate does not allow for increased service levels.”
•Scott Murray grew up in Canyon but hadn’t spent more than a day or two at a time there since he left 15 years ago. What he found while visiting in the previous week left him shaking his head. And busy cleaning up the mess he found on a dirt bike ride around his old haunting grounds.
“Does Canyon have a dump now?” he asked, rhetorically. “It didn’t used to have one, but it looks like things have changed. … In about a half-kilometre beside the bridge, I filled 90 bags of garbage.”