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Underpass spending angst

Resident disappointed and surprised the city will spend $500,000 for design of underpass.
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Salmon Arm Coun. Kevin Flynn

Resident Paul D. Burrows is disappointed and surprised the city will spend $500,000 from the underpass development cost charge fund in 2017 for design of the structure.

In a letter to council, he writes: “No matter how you spin it, this expenditure from whatever source, continues to show that this council has a serious bias in favour of proceeding with this gold-plated and unproven crossing under the CPR tracks which is as yet unquantified as to cost ($15 million?) before holding a referendum to approve/reject this project in 2018.”

Coun. Kevin Flynn was not impressed.

“I have no issue with people having opinions, no issue with people expressing opinions, but I sure wish people would do some research and get some facts before expressing opinions,” he said, adding that the underpass has been discussed many times.

“We can’t even get a quote without having a shovel-ready project.”

He said a study with information on what kind of crossing to build was provided 10 years ago.

“We need to spend money to get to a stage where we know how much an underpass would cost… As much as you say all input is welcome, this has been dealt with so many times.”

Mayor Nancy Cooper pitched in.

“I’d also like to add this was paid for by developers who built on the other side of the tracks.”