The Town of Canmore is putting $15,000 towards new water and sewer lines to the hangar building at the municipal heliport.
Existing lines have been plagued with problems over the years, according to a report to council, but the June flood plugged the sanitary lines with debris last year.
Gary Buxton, general manager of municipal infrastructure, said with the water lines subject to freezing every winter, it makes sense to replace both lines at once and before the parking lot at the heliport is repaved.
“The reason for the hurried decision here is we are in the process of repaving the parking lot and it would make sense to install the lines now instead of next year and repaving it again,” Buxton said.
Repaving the parking lot is also due to damage caused by the flooding of Cougar Creek.
The heliport is owned by the municipality, but leased by Alpine Helicopters. They signed a new lease in 2011 that included only the buildings on site as leasehold improvements, according to Buxton, and thus the responsibility of Alpine.
With water and sewer lines the responsibility of the Town as a result, he said Alpine is willing to contribute $15,000 of the total $30,000 price tag for the servicing work to go forward this year.
