The Town of Chestermere may be forced to implement water management upgrades to address drainage and water pooling issues along roadways and properties in town.
"Storm water drainage in all of Chestermere is a concern because it is highly regulated by Alberta Environment," said Chestermere Mayor Patricia Matthews. "But the issues along East and West Chestermere Drive have been brought up by various residents for a while now." Storm water is highly regulated everywhere in the province for sediment and other matter that might affect the water downstream, said Matthews.
After a four-hour public hearing, the MD of Rocky View council sent an applicant proposing a business development project in east Balzac back to the drawing board.
Council asked the developer, Centron Group of Companies, to consider changes to its proposal requested by community members at a public hearing last Tuesday. "Some tweaking could be done to improve this a bit," said Reeve Lois Habberfield.
St. Albert - Funding for Ray Gibbon Drive did not find its way into this year’s provincial budget, but the city insists it’s close to a deal.
Despite a record $37 billion in spending, no money was set aside in Tuesday’s provincial budget for Ray Gibbon Drive. The future Highway 2 does not even show up in the province’s three-year capital plan.
However, Mayor Nolan Crouse suggests a deal is perhaps just two months away that could see the city reimbursed for past Ray Gibbon Drive spending.
A third of St. Albert homeowners will see double-digit tax hikes this year, thanks in part to skyrocketing housing prices. The largest increases will be felt among owners of the city`s most affordable homes.
City hall announced on Friday it plans to mail letters to 4,500 homeowners hardest hit by tax increases. Condominiums, duplexes, townhouses and older homes will see the largest increases, some exceeding 15 per cent.
A new provincial program that will allow towns such as Sundre to assess emergency cover-off and technical assistance in ensuring safe and secure drinking water is welcome news, says town CAO Nita Bartholow.
"At this point we don`t have a use for it. However, once we have the water treatment facility in place, we may find that this could be a solution, if we find that we cannot hire qualified people. The Town, as of yet, has not experienced any difficulty getting qualified personnel, that doesn`t mean that we won`t," said Bartholow.
The City of Airdrie is encouraging residents to participate in a survey about how they `enVision` the Airdrie of the future.
"We want to know what residents see and want for the future," said Tanis Houck, sustainability co-ordinator for the City of Airdrie. "The feedback we get from the survey is essential to help us build our integrated community sustainability plan. We want individuals to become a part of this action, movement and energy by participating in the survey."
Residents can complete the survey online at: www.airdrie.ca/sustainability or visit the City of Airdrie booth at the Home and Garden Fair this weekend. The survey comprises five questions:
And the survey says…
Canmore residents will soon be asked the Family Feud catchphrase as Canmore town council agreed to hire Hargroup Management Consultants for $25,000 to create a sense of community survey for the town. Council approved the motion unanimously last Tuesday.
Senior manager of community enrichment Brenda Caston said the survey will help measure "how people are tied together in the community," in Canmore, identifying community needs, community health and neighbourhoods. Information gathered will also be used as a tool to plan for new communities.
Cochrane won the honour, beating 15 other towns across Western Canada with a population of between 8,000 and 15,000, at the Welcome Wagon Spring Conference held in Calgary Alberta on Apr. 4.
Committee denies special request on Main Street development permit
The fate of an almost century-old building remains up in the air after its owner was denied a special request from Edson`s Municipal Planning Committee (MPC) on April 10.
Wayne Murphy addressed the MPC on behalf of Murphy Group Inc. to ask that the conditions for a development permit at 414- 50 Street (south of the post office) be relaxed because the building is likely to be sold or demolished in the near future.
Yet, as Municipal Planning Manager Bob Bown explained, the permit`s requirements can`t technically be removed. The town can postpone enforcement, which they often do to accommodate business owners, but that`s it, he said.
Mitchell`s Café in downtown Fort McMurray was packed Thursday evening -- but it wasn`t with patrons having dinner.
Instead, about 30 small business owners piled into the small eatery on the corner of Main Street and Manning Avenue to deliver a clear message to the municipality: It has a problem.
That problem? The nearly inhospitable conditions in Fort McMurray for small businesses, with operating costs skyrocketing as rent and wage levels at an all-time high.
"If you go to most communities in the province, there`s some sense of community through having small businesses run by local people." said Steve Niehaus, owner of Mitchell`s and an organizer of the meeting. "We`re losing that."
Fort Saskatchewan joined a growing list of municipalities across the province by making secondary suites a permitted use in single-family homes Tuesday night as city council passed a new land-use bylaw.
Fort Saskatchewan will be creating a municipal sustainability plan – its first – over the coming year after city council unanimously approved Tuesday spending $125,000 to develop it.
Though the city isn`t required to have a municipal sustainability plan (MSP), many Canadian communities are starting to develop them because some federal and provincial grant money is only available to communities that have adopted one, according to the city`s planning and development director Bob Beck.
Soccer might become a year-round option for kids in the Foothills. Municipal politicians sat down last week to discuss a proposal to build an indoor facility in the Aldersyde region for soccer and lacrosse. "The idea was that it was going to be a joint-use facility between Okotoks, the M.D. (of Foothills) and ourselves," High River Mayor Les Rempel said Wednesday.
An unintended consequence of the municipal tax system will sting some of Hinton`s lower-income residents while rewarding those who own more expensive homes.
Residential and non-residential taxes alike will rise overall by 4.1 per cent if the Town`s taxation plans are passed at an upcoming meeting.
Municipal tax is taken from the assessed value of each property, a property`s worth as determined by provincially regulated assessors. Less expensive homes rose in value faster than more expensive houses as of last July 1.
Robinson`s AG Foods is slated to be open this June, just in time for the summer tourism rush, owner Raymond Robinson said last week. While Robinson could not give an exact date for a re-opening, he said renovations were going "well". "You can see what we`re doing, and that`s where we`re at," he said.
But one Jasper resident said he was not convinced.
Michael Flisak, a local artist who has lived in the area for about 29 years, said he was concerned about grocery shortages over the summer.
Although Mother Nature had other things in mind in regards to the ground breaking for the Enhanced Recreation Centre, that didn’t stop the festivities. Instead of the ground breaking, City of Leduc Mayor Greg Krischke took a sledgehammer to a wall, and the event turned into a wall busting.
Main Street Remediation project budget over $1 million
Council has decided to go against their engineer`s recommended action for the Main Street paving project.
Council made a motion at their April 14th meeting to go forward with the Main Street Rehabilitation project with a budget of just over $1 million. For the project`s $1,039,000 budget, council will be able to do an overlay of 50th Street with 10 per cent concrete repair.
This is not the direction that council was advised to take after a $30,000 preliminary engineering geo-technical investigation by DCL Siemens. They recommended a complete reconstruction of the street, with a price tag of over $2.8 million.
Strathcona County has designated an area on the southeast corner of Sherwood Park as a park area that will eventually be the home of a new Elk Island Catholic elementary school, should it be approved to be built.
The lot lies south of Foxhaven and north of The Ridge, with Regency Drive bordering it to the east.
It will cost Strathcona just over $1 million to develop the site. Of that, $250,000 was already budgeted for this year, $710,000 will come from a trust that is given to municipalities for land acquisitions for schools and park. Another grant will pay for the remaining $74,000.
It will only take 20 minutes, but it goes a long way to making the city look a lot cleaner.
This year, the city of Wetaskiwin is taking part in Pitch-In Week Canada, from April 21 to 27.
"All residents, business owners, and students are encouraged to participate by taking just 20 minutes during this week to clean up around their properties," said Ald. Gail Taylor. "Programs such as this, will benefit the entire community and continue to make Wetaskiwin the best place to be."
