Kevin Hanson – Division 1
Quick Bits
I briefly met the new Bragg Creek Community Association executive director Guy Latour at Bragg Creek Days, and am looking forward to further discussion with the group soon. Bragg Creek Wild did an awesome job presenting their case directly to my colleagues on Council at the last Public Presentation Committee meeting. This was covered nicely by a Rocky View weekly article if you want more information. We had our first meeting of a re-booted Bragg Creek Fire Smart committee meeting, and it focussed on gathering information from previous committee work done by the community, and laying a path forward for the next meeting in the early fall. RVC had a high- level meeting with the Tsuut’ina Nation with the intent of re-establishing working relations. The Nation brought up the topic of the Wintergreen emergency egress route, and the MOU from 2016 was quickly touched upon, with a few misconceptions clarified by RVC staff. I thank the Nation for agreeing to the meeting, and look forward to ongoing discussions of mutual benefit, including regional servicing.
At the other end of the Division, I am connecting our relatively new Elbow Valley Resident’s Club staff with County Administration Staff to re-engage the community with RVC at an administration level. Agenda topics are still being finalized, but will include for sure advice for weed control, and parking issues by Clearwater Park. The EVRC board and I are continuing to discuss desired services and capital improvements within the County’s control, and a closer working relationship between the board and RVC administration as well. This may include a slot in an upcoming Presentation Committee agenda to help familiarize my Council Colleagues with areas of importance in the Highway 8 area of the County. Mitigating rising Fire Insurance costs and community engagement for the upcoming Draft Municipal Development Plan is certainly top of mind…
Winter Green Water Co-Op
July 3rd, I attended the opening ceremony for the connection of the Wintergreen community water supply to RVC’s Bragg Creek water plant. RVC has been working since 2019 with the Co-Op and Alberta Environment to make improvements to improve the stability, reliability, and economics of their water supply. A former Co-Op pump station on County land was converted to a new booster station and the trunk to Wintergreen was re-sleeved with a new liner, improving pumping efficiency and water quality safety. They still maintain their water license, and our utility supplies the potable water processing and conveyance to their reservoir. This is a win-win situation, and adds approximately 80 more users to the system, bringing the user-base to almost 200. The capital improvements were made possible through a Local Improvement Tax which is added to the beneficiaries’ annual taxes for the length of the debenture. The not-quite doubling of the user base will bring new economies of scale to the daily operations of our sub-regional waterworks service, which all customers will benefit from in their rates long-term. This project has been a priority for Rocky View County, the Province is extremely happy with the outcome, and I am delighted it is now online.
39th Annual RVC Agriculture Tour
My wife Judy and I really look forward to this event, and once again it proved very popular and easily sold-out. This year started with morning coffee and returned for dinner at the Crossfield community hall, with the lunch stop at Golden Rod Community Hall. The two full buses transported guests around the north west area of Rocky View for this year’s itinerary. The stops were at Highline Mushrooms, Gallelli Farms, Canadiana Equestrian Centre, and Cairns Feedyards. Our Ag Services staff do a wonderful job hosting the guests, and new this year some of the seasonal workers where put on the tour bus microphones to play tour commentators– a great experience builder for them! For any Division 1 residents that may not have an agricultural background, this tour is highly recommended, and is guaranteed to make you proud of living in Rocky View, by showcasing its strong agricultural and agri-business roots.
Contact: KRHanson@RockyView.ca or call 403.463.1166.
