The town’s dog park project will be located in an area of Newcastle Beach based on the recommendations of council.

The proposed dog park, located east of the ball diamonds, is slated for completion in spring next year.

Council decided to move forward with the project after a public consultation process that actually did not have Newcastle Beach as an option. Two final locations, the beach and an area of land on top of Elgin Hill near Bankview, were presented to council for their recommendation.

The town has budgeted $15,000 for the project, which will be used to fence the area and install infrastructure. The area will be fenced off and the existing cook shack will be removed, and a walking path will need to be relocated. The park will have separate areas for big dogs and small dogs.

“I think this is the best location proposed so far… We’ve been looking into reinvestments in that area for a while and getting rid of a derelict building would certainly be one of them,” said councillor Jay Garbutt.

“I don't think having one dog park will be sufficient for everyone,” councillor Tom Zariski said. “All we can do is start with one and hopefully this will be good for a number of people and a number of dogs.”

Council approved an increase to water and wastewater utility fees at their council meeting on Monday.

Water rates will increase 5 per cent and wastewater by 2 per cent, an expected jump which is scheduled into the utility rate model for the town.

“As part of our utility rate management study recommendations that came out, is that were underfunding our utility, and there was a five year plan to get to sustainability of similar utility rate increases on an annual basis,” said town CAO Darryl Drohomerski at the meeting.

Water rates per cubic metre will increase from $1.7881 in 2018 to $1.8775 in 2019, with base rates increasing from $14.04 to $14.74. For wastewater, the rate will increase from $2.1082 per cubic metre to $2.1452 per cubic metre. On a household’s monthly water bill using 15 cubic metres of water, the change will equate to about a $3.75 increase per month.

Regional municipal customers will also see an increase this year. Munson and Starland County will see their per cubic rates rise from $1.6323 to $1.7139. Kneehill County users will see rates up from $1.8354 to $1.9272, both at a 5 per cent increase.