For the third straight year, the City of Quesnel has applied for the Northern Development Initiative Trust Grant.
Over the past two years, the City has been successful for its previous two applications which have helped fund the City for their arena precinct, and their Spirit Centre.
Mayor Bob Simpson said that the City is asking for close to $900,000 in funds from the Northern Development Initiative to help with several projects.
“This year, we submitted one of the key phases of our Waterfront Development Strategy,” he said. “We have a comprehensive strategy to develop all of the waterfronts along the Quesnel River, the Fraser River, and Baker Creek that is associated with our Riverfront Trial.”
Simpson explained what the money if secured, will go towards.
“To do a phased treatment of our walking bridge to make our walking bridge safer on both ends. For people who are using it to get back and forth, for cyclists, for people on mobility devices,” he said. “To improve the lighting along the Fraser River portion of the trial, and also to make that whole area another hosting area. We had a community party on the walking bridge for the first time last year, and we want to do some renovations on the bridge to make it easier for us to host those types of events.”
He said that the third piece of their submission is to start a deeper background of telling and gathering stories of the First Nations use of that area.
“It’s a very culturally significant area for, not just the Province of British Columbia, but for the whole nation. It’s where Simon Fraser landed, it’s where Alexander Mackenzie landed, but more importantly, it’s where the Lhatko Dene settled and had a very large population settlement,” Simpson stated. “We want to gather that information so we can turn into interpretive signage, and make it part of our cultural and heritage tourism.”
The project is expected to cost over $1 million. The City is asking around $880,000 from the trust to help with the construction of the project.
Simpson added that he is hopeful that they can go three for three in successful grant applications.
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