Quesnel City Council has now formally endorsed the north-south interconnector route that is being proposed for the community.
The vote was unanimous last night and Mayor Bob Simpson says the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure will now expedite it’s final report on that route and possible changes for the Racing Road/Hydraulic Road areas.
Simpson says the plan is to have that report presented to government and Council in March.
And he hopes that it might even be able to go to the next step…
“In the interim i am going to be reaching out to the Minister’s office that i would like them to come here on March 27th and be able to announce that they have the planning dollars to go to the next steps on these two projects.”
Simpson says he had a discussion with Claire Trevena before last night’s meeting…
“She called me and we had a good conversation about it and so she is aware of how many people are involved, how much support, all of this background information so she is going to take that into her planning discussion meetings and she is priming the pump for us, so i think we’ve got an ally in the Minister to make this happen.”
He says it was a good conversation and he feels that they may have an ally for these projects.
The next step, the planning stage, would require somewhere in the neighbourhood of 8 to 10 million dollars.
In addition to Council’s support, Simpson says letters from the Cariboo Regional District, West Fraser, Cariboo Pulp, Tolko, C&C Wood Products and the Downtown Business Association will also be going to the Minister before today’s 4 o’clock deadline, along with numerous postcards signed by the more than 850 residents that attended this week’s open house.
Simpson says they will also be seeking a letter of support from the MLA.