Work to renovate and underpin the Athabasca Train Station began in earnest last week, just one day after Athabasca town council approved funding for the project on November 2.
Town council voted 5-2 in favour of granting $109,000 to the Athabasca Heritage Society (AHS), with councillors Richard and Tim Verhaeghe opposed.
Restoration work and underpinning of the foundations began Nov. 3.
With $12,000 in cash already set aside, the town will move the remaining $97,000 straight from land sale profits to pay the Heritage Society immediately, and council can apply for its own grant to recover the cash.
“I’m very pleased the town made the right decision,” said AHS president Charles Bazalgette.
He explained that half the funds would pay for the underpinning of the station’s east end foundations, and ideally the rest of the cash would be seed money for matching grants from the province and other sources.
With the foundation work beginning this month, Bazalgette said the restoration project was right on schedule.
It will be five years before the project is fully complete, Bazalgette said, but there should be substantial progress made before the 2011 Athabasca Centennial celebrations.
With winter closing in, Bazalgette said it was important to begin underpinning before subzero temperatures delayed work till spring.
“It’s a fairly long-term project.”
Bazalgette said that despite the more fiscally conservative outlook of the new council, they were “ready to make this decision,” and release the needed funds.
The station will keep some tenants during the restoration, as their rent will help cover basic running costs, and once the project is finished the building will be a space for local community and volunteer groups to meet and keep their offices at a convenient downtown location.
Tourists will also benefit from a visitor information centre with a receptionist on hand to direct people to wherever they need to go.
