The City of Merritt will have to stop short on its plans to repave Coldwater Avenue from Main Street to Voght Street this year.
Council received word that their submission for a matching grant from the New Building Canada Fund for Small Communities was denied.
A letter from the provincial co-chair of the oversight committee for the Small Communities Fund in the council agenda states “the program received significantly more applications than could be funded.”
With the help of the grant money, water and sewer lines below that stretch of road as well as the asphalt above would have been replaced.
Sans grant, this project only covered the 1400 block of Coldwater Avenue between Main Street and Wilson Street, which was replaced this past spring.
While the final number hasn’t come in yet, public works manager Shawn Boven said that work cost the city about $640,000 prior to the road being paved.
There will be a second intake of applications for the grant, but a date for that hasn’t been determined yet.
To be eligible for this grant, the city put up $1.5 million for the government to match, funds which Boven said he’ll recommend council hang on to in order to maintain eligibility for the second intake.
In addition to the 1400 block of Coldwater Ave., the water and sewer lines and the asphalt road for a portion of Clapperton Avenue and the Langstaff Place cul-de-sac were replaced this year.
The City of Merritt also had Voght Street from Merritt Avenue to Nicola Avenue, and Houston Street from Nicola Avenue to Priest Avenue repaved.
