The Rochester & District Agricultural Society is regretfully requesting an early termination of its lease agreement with Athabasca County for the maintenance of the Rochester Wayside Rest Area because of lack of volunteer support.
The rest stop is along Highway 2 just north of the Rochester turnoff.
The request was made in an Oct. 7 letter from the society’s president, Helen Goertz, to Athabasca County recreation manager Grant Burge. The letter was discussed by county council at its Oct. 31 meeting.
“We’ve been discussing for at least a year getting out of the lease,” said Goertz.
The county wanted to close the site a number of years ago, but the society appreciated it as a potentially “nice camping area,” according to Goertz, so the society signed on to maintain the site to try to keep it open.
However, the site has attracted vandals, and volunteer support for maintaining the area has dwindled.
“You have to wear rubber gloves, you have to wear safety equipment to clean the garbage,” said Goertz, who said there are used condoms and discarded needles that have been found in the area — items she said are “pretty typical” finds on the site.
“I think we need to dismantle it and get rid of it,” said councillor Christine Bilsky.
Councillor Larry Speers, who represents the Rochester area, said he realizes people do vandalize, but it would still be worthwhile having a place for motorists to pull over if possible.
Athabasca County manager Gary Buchanan suggested the solution may be as simple as putting some bollards (short vertical posts) up on the entrance to the rest stop to prevent vehicles from entering.
“We’ve had our volunteers, and we do have a paid janitor, but they’ve gone up there and they’ve found furniture. They’ve found old stoves, and that’s beyond just cleaning up garbage,” said Goertz.
The society, noting the notice of termination period is one year, asked that the period be reduced to “as short a period as possible.” While the society would be willing to maintain the site in the meantime, it said it would like the site to close by Nov. 30, before snow removal is required.
Goertz said it’s starting to cost a little too much to keep the area maintained, citing the society’s $10,000-or-so annual operating budget.
“We’re getting into substantial money, and we’re just a small organization. We don’t have extra funds,” said Goertz. “To take a big chunk of that to take care of that rest stop is getting too tough on us. It would be different if we had more volunteers.”
County councillor Jack Dowhaluk suggested the matter be referred to the county recreation board for consideration.
A motion was passed to table the request for a future council meeting while the society is contacted for further information.
