Kevin Hanson – Division 1
Fire Protection Service Levels
I had the pleasure of attending the 2025 Rocky View County Fire Services long- service awards ceremony January 17th at County Hall. As usual, it included Rocky View, Provincial, and Federal levels of recognition. Members were honoured with service pins marking various years of service with Rocky View County or other Fire Services.
I fully support Reeve Samra’s statement:
“These milestones represent years of service, sacrifice, and commitment and Council extends its appreciation to our Fire Services members and their families and loved ones for supporting this important work.”
Of special interest to myself given my historical lobbying, and I am sure to many Division 1 residents was that the 2025 winner of the Distinguished Service Award was Captain Andrew Mardel, recognized by his peers for his efforts helping Rocky View to establish Superior Tanker Shuttle Service (STSS) Accreditation with the Fire Underwriters Survey. Achieving this could ultimately have a direct positive impact on fire insurance premiums. Since this award is peer-to-peer recognition, I was very impressed that at the ground level, our Fire Services recognize the importance of this work for the betterment of Rocky View County.
Deputy Fire Chief Jon Evans, provided this update on of the work RVCFS has done with respect to the Superior Tanker Shuttle Service Accreditation (STSS):
“To ensure RVCFS is prepared to service the community in all aspects, training in 2025 was focused on rural water supply. Crews worked together to practice water shuttle evolutions to the Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS) STSS accreditation requirements. These requirements are:
- Establish a water supply within 5 minutes upon arrival on scene
- Water supply location must be within 5 km of scene.
- Flow water at 900L/M continually for 120 minutes
During our training evolutions RVCFS successfully surpassed these thresholds and are working with FUS to get accredited this spring in the Elbow Valley area.”
Redwood Meadows Council
Early last year I had conversation with Councillor Rowlan Nichol about, their water and wastewater servicing, development in the region, and Rocky View’s growth plans. It was the first time that I have been approached by their council for this type of discussion.
Then in late December I also had discussions with Mayor Sam Jackson of Redwood Meadows. We discussed their plans forward for their fire services, and I suggested that their CAO Gord Tate reach out to our administration to discuss regional fire services plans in a coordinated manner with our CAO Reegan McCullough.
At the political level, I also suggested that Mayor Jackson reach out to our administration to gauge interest in establishing a council-to-council relationship -starting with an initial meeting.
Our Council was amenable to hosting a lunch meeting planned for January 27th, as an opportunity for both Councils to connect, discuss areas of mutual interest, and strengthen our intermunicipal relationship. This level of collaboration is overdue, and I will advocate that Council establishes an Ad-Hoc Inter-Municipal Committee (IMC) with Redwood Meadows substantially similar to what we have established with all our other Municipal neighbours.
Bragg Creek ASP
I was unable to attend to watch the November open house for the first draft of the new ASP, as Council was in Budget meetings into the evening. However, I have been receiving a number of emails with feedback from potential developers, community residents, as well as some of the community organizations.
The official engagement survey after the open house was open for comments from December 1 to 22, 2025, however comments could still be submitted to planning if you feel that you were not given an opportunity to engage effectively. I urge everyone to supply comments, but also keep those thoughts top of mind for the public hearing where administration will present the first draft to Council, stakeholders will provide their perspective and Council will be listening, then debating.
My objective is to have a strong ASP with effective and clear policy that will guide development both in the hamlet core, as well as the expansion lands. A plan that captures the spirit of the visioning committee, that has strong technical analysis backing it, It must ensure we are building a resilient growth hamlet for Rocky View, that respects and preserves the core of what makes the hamlet desirable as it is, while improving where we can with best planning practices. This update project should deliver a better plan than what it is replacing…
Contact: KRHanson@RockyView.ca or call 403.463.1166.
Free Classifieds