The upcoming town hall meeting on Bruhn Bridge replacement options will convene with District of Sicamous council and staff, but without the Ministry of Transportation.
The meeting is scheduled to take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at Eagle River Secondary on Tuesday, Feb. 21. The meeting is a followup to a public information meeting that was held in November, where the three options proposed for the bridge were on display and ministry staff were available to answer questions and receive input.
“Council decided to hold this as a result of the last public engagement, which was held in November, but it was put on by the proponent, MOTI (Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure),” said Sicamous town manager Evan Parliament. “Being it’s their project, and they’re funding it, they’re probably the best folks to answer any of the technical questions.”
But Parliament says the ministry staff who attended the November meeting have to be in Kelowna on Feb. 21, and won’t be available for the Sicamous meeting.
“So we’re still going ahead with it, and we’re going to at best answer the questions we can answer, and any questions directed to the province will be recorded and submitted to the province,” said Parliament. “We’re hoping this opportunity is an informal engagement between the residents and the council and looking at all three options, pros and cons, and hopefully we can answer a lot of the questions out there…”
When it comes to specifics relating to the costs associated with the bridge options, including maintenance of a Main Street bridge proposed in one of the options, Parliament said staff and council currently know as much as any other Sicamous residents.
“Only the province knows what the costs will be and they haven’t determined these,” said Parliament.
Residents with questions will have an opportunity at the Feb. 21 meeting to stand at the mic and address council. Registered questions are welcome in advance, however.
“We’re asking people if they want to register their questions, they can do that through the website,” said Parliament, referring to the District of Sicamous’ website. “What registered questions do is they immediately get to the floor. We’re going to deal with the registered questions first, and then we’re going to open the floor and the mic to anyone in the room who has a question.”