Kevin Hanson – Division 1
Quick Bits
Some sad news on a personal note; my father passed away at the beginning of June. He was the first of Judy and my’s parents to pass, so it was a journey into new territory for our family. On a similar note, in late April, long-time friend and supporter of the Rocky View Foundation, Karen Nordgaard, passed at her Bragg Creek home. I have been told it happened peacefully, like my father’s end. For those interested if you have not read about this remarkable woman, her obituary can be found here: https://calgaryherald.remembering.ca/obituary/karen-nordgaard-1087510400. Karen held me accountable to move the Bragg Creek Seniors Facility forward, and I continue to do my best as a board member of the Foundation.
Division 1 Rocky View Open House
Turnout was moderate for the June open house – 36 people officially signed in for the opportunity to meet and ask questions of staff from 10 different county departments, all while reviewing the poster stations. I was hoping a few more folks would have taken advantage of the convenience of the county coming to Bragg Creek. Especially valuable to me and staff were the free-form comments folks were able to leave us as they left the community centre. Feedback from these houses across all divisions will be reported to Council this fall.
July 18 Solar Farm Hearing
Council governed a “First” for Rocky View County by holding a public hearing for a land use redistricting we were legislated to approve. Council rejected a proposed solar farm NE of Airdrie last fall. Subsequently, the Applicants escalated it, seeking approval from the Alberta Utilities Commission. This past May it was approved on the basis of the public good outweighing the desires of the locally impacted landowners.
So fast forward to our hearing… no re- litigating was allowed. Approval of a new Direct Control District was pre-ordained, and public input and council discussions were limited solely to areas of municipal interest that were not already covered in the AUC approval. I was able to ask a number of questions related to the security bond for reclamation. During debate I urged that Admin and the Applicant continue further discussions on the form the reclamation security bonds could take, such that the County’s risk remains more or less constant over the life of the power plant, despite inflation. The final details will come to light in the fall as the next step is the issuance of a Development Permit approved by Council.
On a related note, there is a very well reported article in the July 18 edition of Rocky View Weekly – on efforts we undertook this past year to map preferred sites for alternate energy projects (MLUST) and how could use this science- based work in upcoming amendments to our Municipal Development Plan. Check it out!
Emergency Management Plan
Council recently had a detailed refresher on our Emergency Management framework; quite timely given the wildfire situation in Northern Alberta this year. It is a sobering workshop every time, but my biggest takeaway is always how impressed I am with our level of Emergency Preparedness, training across the organization, and professionalism in our Management and Emergency Services staff.
Forest Fire (Wildfire) remains the number 1 risk for RVC; with Floods, Major Vehicular Accident, Tornado, and a Hazmat incident rounding out the top 5. Knowing that, RVC was successful in the recent past of securing granting from the Province’s Communities Resilience Program.
Thanks to our dedication to Disaster Mitigation, under this program Rocky View County had facilitated more FireSmart inspections per capita than most other municipalities in Alberta:
- 255 FireSmart Home Assessments were completed
- $184,510 in grants were paid for tree removal
- 117 Residents received the grants
A similar story was relayed to us about our Flood Smart program. The success of the these two programs led to discussion of how best to initiate re-starting the RVC Firesmart efforts. If not already on our alert system – visit “Safe & Sound”: www.RockyView.ca/safe
Contact: KRHanson@RockyView.ca or call 403.463.1166.
