Alfred and Plantagenet township council has awarded a contract for six paving projects across the municipality this summer, but councillors questioned one of those projects.

At a council meeting on June 3, the contract for asphalt paving was awarded to JRL Paving Inc. for $172,688.27. The JRL tender was one of three the township received and had the second-lowest cost. However, the company which submitted the tender with the lowest cost left an item out and was disqualified from consideration.

The six projects are asphalt additions to sidewalks in Plantagenet, paving at the north side of the baseball field in Wendover, paving on chemin Carrière, paving on Alfred Concession 4, and paving on rough sections of Plantagenet Route 14. The sixth project, which involved paving the currently gravel section of rue Larocque in Alfred near Larocque Park and the Larocque Woods natural area is what raised questions from councillors.

Ward 1 Councillor Benoit Lamarche asked why work is being done on rue Larocque when other places such as St-Joseph Street are in more need of repair.

Mayor Yves Laviolette asked if the rue Larocque work was budgeted under the Roads Department or the Department of Recreation due to the park area.

Director of Recreation Manon Besner said it was budgeted under the Roads Department because of the parking lot and Roads shares in the maintenance of the area. She noted how popular the Larocque Woods are as an outdoor space.

Lamarche questioned if the paving is necessary based on how few people could be using the woods.

“Presently, we have a meter on the main trail and 25 to 30 people are using the main trail every day,” Besner said.

She said the paving work is part of one of the three components of funding for maintaining the Larocque Woods as a public park. She added the area was also damaged by the 2022 derecho storm.

Councillor Jean-Pierre Cadieux, who also represents Ward 1, said there are other streets in Alfred in need of repair.

Roads Department Director Jonathan Gendron said the department is aware of the various paving needs.

“There are many streets in need of resurfacing,” Laviolette remarked.

Council eventually agreed to proceed with the asphalt contract and paving projects but removed paving the parking lot for Larocque Woods from the plan.