The hotly debated Jasper underpass could be on the receiving end of a facelift that would install stone mosaics of surrounding mountain ranges on the structure.

Council agreed Tuesday by a 5-2 decision to further investigate the possibility of installing stone mosaics on the underpass in an effort to promote public art and beautify the structure.

The underpass was originally designed to include a 3D grizzly bear head that has been used on a handful of municipal projects, such as town crosswalks and grates. However former Jasper artist Anna Carnell proposed a new plan to install stone mosaics with various predator/prey relationships upon them, as well as mountain ranges. The animals in the mosaics would be based on the work of local photographers.

The project would also include a public art component, where mosaic workshops would be held to teach the community to design their own mosaics for the community. The community pebble mosaics could be installed on ramps and public buildings, council heard.

Manager of Environmental Services Ken Quackenbush said the project would add another $10,000 in cost to the project, which could come out of the project’s $100,000 contingency fund. The contingency fund is currently being used to pay for CN flagging and other work. However the town has yet to receive an invoice from CN, and isn’t sure how much money is left in the contingency fund.

While council was generally supportive of the pebble mosaics, which would decorate the sides and archway of the underpass, they were hesitant to give up on the grizzly bear logo used throughout the town.

Coun. Mike Day said he liked the idea of consistency in the grizzly bear logo, which is also used outside of the townsite. He also was weary of an artist from outside of Jasper contributing to the public art project, stating he’d prefer it if the art project was a community art project.

Coun. Gloria Kongsrud said she liked the grizzly head design, and was worried the town could end up with something ‘god awful.’

“Let’s stick to the theme of the grizzly bear, plain and simple,” Coun Kongsrud said.

Coun. Brian Skehill was concerned about the potential lack of money in the contingency fund, and asked if CN may be interested in helping fund the public art project.

A vote to approve the entire Carnell stone mosaic was defeated by council by a 3-4 margin. Mayor Richard Ireland, Coun. Brian Skehill and Coun. Ralph Melnyk supported the Carnell design.

However Coun. Rico Damota crafted a second motion, asking town staff to ask Carnell to come up with a new proposal. Coun. Damota supported the mountain pebble mosaic design proposed for the archway, but didn’t want to lose the original grizzly bear for the pillars of the underpass. He also asked if there was a cost savings component to only adapting half of the proposal.

“Let’s have the landscapes over the entrances, but leave the sides for the grizzly bear design,” Coun. Damota said.

Council approved that decision by a 5-2 decision. Couns. Kongsrud and Day opposed the decision.