Town approves UFA fuel cardlock station, construction expected in April
EAGLE STAFF
Construction on a new fuel cardlock station on the town’s southeast edge should start in April. That’s according to a development permit that councillors approved during their Nov. 3 meeting.
Craig Marriott of Martensville, UFA’s regional operations director, said during the meeting that the new depot was part of the Alberta co-operative’s “growth mission.” The company “paused” after expanding to Kindersley and Swift Current in 1998 and starting a “very unfruitful” venture into wholesale sports, Marriott said.
People who “want this” include UFA members and officials, plus Saskatchewan residents who worked in the Alberta oilpatch before taking over family farms, he said.
“We exceed” the minimum environmental regulations, he said. The company uses an underground oil-water separation system with three chambers that “will capture any hydrocarbons or contaminants in the final chamber and we can deal with it accordingly,” Marriott said.
“We’re using the latest state-of-the-art technology to monitor the tank inventory and the fuel in the tanks,” he said.
The town’s invitation for comment drew one letter from a person who expressed concern about the proposed station’s effect on existing bulk fuel dealers here, the lack of turning lanes at Highway 7’s intersection with 14th Street East, which is “already showing signs of deterioration,” and potential environmental damage due to soil and groundwater contamination, among other issues.
Officials with the Highways and Environment departments have already been involved, and UFA will pay to make the intersection meet the highway at a 90-degree angle, Mayor Trevor Hay said.
“We will be planting trees” to buffer the noise, Hay said, noting that new developments bring more jobs, increased competition, and an uptick to the local economy, and that the sewage lagoon expansion “allows us to have a facility like this.”
“I guess it just amazes me that there could be this much demand for fuel in this day and age,” councillor Jan Coffey Olson said after listing the local bulk fuel dealers and other gas stations.
However, people in the agriculture industry require a lot of fuel, with farm-owned semitrailer units carrying grain, and many travellers passing through, Greg Carlson said.
“Competition is the best thing for any society, I think,” added Art Garrett. Environmental rules are “so strict, nothing’s going to get by” department officials, Garrett said.
Marriott said that the company had recently established a grant program to help communities pay for such things as new parks and curling rinks. Pioneers formed the United Farmers of Alberta due to a need for fence posts and barbed wire, and the organization formed the provincial government (1921-35) at one time, he said.