OUTLOOK - Everyone wants the SkyTrail walking bridge in Outlook to reopen one day. That's perhaps a given that should be stated.
The once popular tourist attraction, which officially opened on May 15, 2004, has been closed off to the public since October 31, 2013 after Associated Engineering discovered structural concerns that came to light. The bridge has had its doors locked since that day.
In the last few years, there have been efforts spearheaded by local resident Con Hammer to address what needs fixed up on the structure and what needs to be done in order for the bridge to reopen to the public. Numerous letters and articles highlighted what Hammer believes to be the path to reopening, and in recent times, he formed the SkyTrail Trailblazer Committee, a group of like-minded individuals who also want to see the former attraction open its gates one day soon.
In the eyes of many, Hammer's recommendations are simple enough and make perfect sense to anyone who's seen what the bridge needs done, particularly at the east entrance. And as far as the Town of Outlook itself is concerned, Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Trew agrees that such work would be a breeze to carry out and there are even funds put away that were originally dedicated to such a project.
Trew says there's no disagreement between Hammer and the Town on what it would take to fix up the entrance and beautify the area.
What it really comes down to for the Town, however, is the question of liability.
The bridge could be fixed up and reopen tomorrow and everyone could go and enjoy it, but for the Town, the question still remains - What if? What if someone got too overzealous and wound up taking a head dive off the bridge down to the river? What if a large group of people started walking and the sound of bolts could be heard coming loose and dropping down into the water?
These are broad questions, and to be perfectly transparent, the odds of anything happening on or to the bridge if it were to be reopened after some fixing up are believed to be very slim among most people, but for the Town's side in the matter, they have to operate with the knowledge that they're the ones who have to answer for the bridge's safety and structural integrity.
In the end, despite the frustrating red tape involved, they have to ask such questions, protecting both themselves and the public when such questions are posed.
The situation escalated recently when a letter to the editor published in The Outlook and on 小蓝视频 written by Hammer said that he and the Trailblazers group were "not allowed" to speak at the April 23 town council meeting after Trew said that the group hadn't presented details as to how any potential risk with the bridge was to be mitigated; to make less severe or serious.
Trew says that he reached out to the group on several occasions to try and seek a response to his questions prior to council meetings.
"We have a Council Procedures Bylaw, and the bylaw clearly states that if there is nothing or no new information given on a subject, then the delegation doesn't come back," he explained. "When the SkyTrail Committee did a presentation to the former Council, that Council asked them for information specifically about mitigating risk, and I also followed up with an email to them following the meeting and requested that kind of information. Actually, I followed up with several different emails, and I actually requested that we be able to get them in at an earlier date to just after the municipal election last year."
At recent meetings attended by the SkyTrail Committee, they were again asked by Trew to provide such information about mitigating risk, but again, Trew says that it wasn't provided.
"They came back in on April 9th when they made a presentation, and they actually requested to be a delegation to the Council," said Trew. "I again submitted an email form saying that this is the information that we are looking for from you and hopefully, you can bring that information. They did not."
It was said to the group that such key information would be beneficial to their cause and it should be brought back to Council at a future meeting, but by the time the next meeting came on April 23, no strategy for mitigating risk was provided. It was at that point that Trew reached out and said the Trailblazers group wouldn't be allowed to make a presentation at the Council meeting without such information.
Trew doesn't dispute the work or the dollar figures of approximately $6,000 to $7,000 that the group says it would cost to fix the issues facing the SkyTrail, noting that the Town would look after it and have actually budgeted for it if the decision was made to reopen the structure.
As the chair of the local museum committee, Trew noted that there have been some conversations that have been had regarding what that group could do to try and mitigate the risks involved in reopening the bridge.
This, at the end of the day, is the biggest hurdle in hopefully reopening the SkyTrail one day; addressing and combating the risks that are involved in doing so. Things like a warning advisory sign posted by the bridge entrance aren't good enough, according to legal counsel for the Town. Other options such as online legal waivers that would have to be signed by anyone using the bridge have been explored, but how such an option would be carried out is another question that would need answers.
"So, that risk is there today," said Trew. "So what we need and what the vision is is how can we open that bridge so that the only risks are the risks we still have today? How can we do that? I can't speak for Council, but speaking of how it looks, I'm very convinced that if the risks were exactly the same risks today, open or closed, that the town council would see to it that it could probably open because it's exactly the same risks."
Trew says the risks of opening the bridge include doing so while knowing the information given from engineering reports from Associated Engineering that have been made public over the last few years.
"It's very prudent and good information, and we're not going to question that," he said. "I know there are people who will question that, but we're not questioning that. And the engineers didn't close the bridge; the Town closed the bridge. Just to make sure that's very clear to everyone here."
The risk of reopening the SkyTrail while knowing such information is public may make for another can of worms from a legal standpoint.
"When we know that there is risk of failure of the bridge, whether we believe there is risk of failure or where we think it's imminent failure, or whether we think it's going to happen today or tomorrow, it doesn't really matter," Trew explained. "It's there, that risk, that liability of the town is there. If one person was to be on that bridge and fall off, regardless of whether the bridge is open or not, there's liability."
Trew says it really comes down to one thing: how does the Town keep the risk for having SkyTrail open remain close to or the same as the risk for having it closed? Essentially, how does one minimize the situation? How can the Town possibly remove any of that risk from a legal standpoint?
The CAO says the Town is open to any and all ideas from the public, should anyone wish to come forward and try to answer those questions. There were plans for the museum committee to hold a public meeting at the Bounty Theatre hall to invite people into the conversation surrounding the bridge just prior to the Trailblazer Committee 小蓝视频 formed, at which point Trew says the museum backed off on the subject to allow the group to bring their message and plans forward.
Trew says that Associated Engineering is very willing to attend such a meeting to address questions and concerns, as is the Town itself.
"It's still right there on our strategic plan," he pointed out. "Investigating and figuring out how to reopen the SkyTrail bridge. So, there is a 100% commitment from all the Council members that want to open the bridge, and that has never been a question. And yet that keeps seeming to be the narrative that is 小蓝视频 put out there. But I could talk for hours and we could actually make a plan of how to go about this and how to figure out how to do this. We could absolutely do that. My office is totally willing to meet with anybody at any time. How do we get around these things? How do we do that? Let's figure this out."
Closing in on a dozen years this fall since the gates were locked, the SkyTrail walking bridge has been closed for longer than it was ever open in the first place.
