The world continues to be a different place. Social distancing continues, working from home, masks, gloves, long lineups at grocery stores and non-essential businesses remaining closed, we have all had to adjust to a new way of living. I can honestly say that I will be glad when we will have a new state of normal, I miss people and doing things (like getting my hair cut!). I don’t like the feeling seeing empty shelves at the store, or the utter frustration when waiting in long lineups. But, our family has adapted, as I’m sure yours has too. This pandemic has shown us what we are capable of, adapting quickly, when the situation requires it and this really demonstrates our own resiliency. Last month I spoke of silver linings and this is another!
The County also adapted and we held our first “virtual” Council meeting on April 28th. The Council meeting actually went quite well. We managed a full day of Council business with few technical glitches and accomplished a great deal of work. We will be holding additional Council meetings in May, which will include some public hearings, while adhering to all the rules currently in place. The County office is doing a soft opening on Monday, May 4th. Appointments will be required; masks and sanitizer will be available and protocols will be in place to ensure safety. This is a positive step forward, and I’m hopeful that as the Province moves through the relaunch strategy recently announced, Rocky View will return to our new normal as well.
During the last Council meeting, Council approved a number of things. One of the best things for Division 2 and all of Springbank is an investment into recreation. Using MSI funds (Municipal Sustainability Initiative) that were set aside specifically for Springbank over 8 years ago, I was able to work with the Springbank Park for All Seasons and our Recreation project to start a number of lifecycle capital projects (taking advantage of the closure right now). We have applied for just over $1,000,000 from the Province which will go a long way to ensure the facility is kept up to date and working well for residents. In addition, an off-leash dog park was identified years ago as something that residents would greatly appreciate, so we have applied for an additional $100,000 to modify some County owned land in Commercial Court to provide an area for folks to exercise their dogs in a secured fenced in area. Ultimately this land should be used or sold as it is more commercial land, but for the next number of years we can enjoy it as a community amenity. Once the MSI is approved, it shouldn’t take long to get this park built so stay tuned for further news on that. There is still about $1.1M of MSI monies available for recreation in Springbank so I’m working with our community leaders to try to identify additional projects we can move forward one.
Council also approved a 3% decrease in property taxes for 2020 – which is in addition to the 2% increase we had already approved, so functionally your property taxes will be 5% lower than they would have been pre COVID. We are trying to do what we can to put in programs that make sense, that don’t cause you or the County future problems down the road. We are in good financial shape right now and will move forward with a few projects, that hopefully turn out to be solid investments in our future. There may be concern about investing in larger capital projects, but ultimately this might be the time to invest rather than retreat. Council is mindful of these decisions and I want to assure you that while on the surface it might seem wise to hold off, our decision to continue with the servicing for West Balzac is because this area still represents an opportunity for growth, and there is a possibility that we can receive funds from the Province or Federal Government towards this project. We need to be a part of rebuilding our economy and not a bystander, I think RVC will well positioned to participate in the relaunch of our economy.
Council also voted on my motion to table the Springbank ASP until July 28th. Ultimately, I think the plan isn’t the best it can be. Even before I was elected, I wasn’t a fan of a large Springbank ASP and truly believe we need to approach certain areas with specific focus. While this could be accomplished in one plan, I think residents and the County would be better served if the plan area was split into 2 or 3 each with its own ASP. The content is really already done so I’ve requested that administration hold a workshop for Council so we can work on it, perhaps redraw some map lines and come back with a new plan. I don’t want to hold this new plan up for long as residents, administration and Council have been working on this since 2014. Once this comes back to Council on the 28th of July the public will have another look at. I don’t believe there will be substantive changes, but we will see.
Kim McKylor,
Councillor, Division 2
