NEWS of the Red Deer Region - February 1-15, 2008

 
News of the Red Deer Region
snippets and summaries of news reports from local media (primarily Red Deer Advocate and Red Deer Express).
February 2008 Part 1

February 14, 2008
Ottawa Snow Sculptures Feature Red Deer Team
A team from Red Deer, representing Alberta, has created a 4.8 metre high snow sculpture, one of 13 in Ottawa as part of the National Snow Sculpting Competition. They spent 55 hours building 'Cardinal's View', a representation of architect Douglas Cardinal's St. Mary's Church in Red Deer, the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull and Alberta mountains. The team took third place and won $1,500.

February 13, 2008
Bank Donates $450,000 to Red Deer College
RBC Royal Bank is donating $400,000, to be divided into $80,000 over the next five years, to student support services. Another $50,000, split into $10,000 over the next five years, is going to the new RBC Emergency Bursary Fund. The contribution will fill in some gaps in support services and catch more students before they give up and leave college.
Homelessness Report Released by Task Force
The Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness has released 'EveryOne's Home', a report on ending homelessness in Red Deer by 2018. The task force estimates that 200 people in the city are without a place to live. About 65% of the homeless who depend on shelters and mat programs are males between the ages of 25 and 44. Just over half were single, and 28% were either separated or divorced. One in three are aboriginal, and nearly the same number spent time in the foster care system as children. In addition, some 2,200 city residents were found to be either living in housing that's unaffordable or inadequate. Of these, 660 are spending more than half their income on housing, putting them at risk of becoming homeless. The report suggests various options for housing and recommends the start of a housing development corporation. The next step is hiring a housing co-ordinator who can turn some of the visionary concepts into an action plan.

February 12, 2008
Review Set for City Canal Concept, Riverlands, Downtown
Red Deer city council has decided to undergo reviews of the Riverlands concept redevelopment plan including the proposed canal concept and the Greater Downtown Action Plan by the end of the year. The Riverlands review will be conducted by two members of the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce, a city councillor and a city senior manager. Along with a consultant, the team will develop a vision on how the existing Cronquist Business Park can be redeveloped into a mixed use, high density, commercial-residential area. They will also determine the feasibility of the proposed concept of creating a series of canals pumping water from the Red Deer River as a year-round tourist attraction. Public input sessions are expected in July and October.
Development Concept Plan Outlined for West Country
Clearwater County has created a concept plan for the development of 3,040 acres in the Saunders-Alexo Development Node along the David Thompson Highway (Hwy. 11), 55 km west of Rocky Mountain House. About 75% of the area is to be left as woodland habitat or maintained for environmental conservation. Sub-areas could be suitable for campgrounds, cabins, lodges, spas, a service centre, a recreation resort complex, 18-hole golf course and trails.
Sylvan Lake Waterslide for Sale
Wild Rapids, the popular Sylvan Lake waterslide park, is up for sale for $8.56 million, including a 3.25 acre parking lot, all of which sit on land leased from the province. The company, Beca International, built the Chateau Suites on Lakeshore Drive and had originally planned an adjacent convention centre and hotel tower on the waterslide parking lot but has since turned its attention on developments in downtown Red Deer and Calgary.

February 9, 2008
CMHC Predicts 15% Drop in City Housing Starts
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is predicting a 15% decline from last year in 2008 Red Deer housing starts compared to a provincial average drop of 18%. Builders in Alberta are contending with higher inventories of new homes and strong competition from the sale of existing homes. However, prices are forecasted to rise 5% to an average price of $285,000. CMHC expects starts of 900 houses in the city and 425 multi-family housing units during 2008, down from 974 houses and 584 units in 2007.
City Operating Budget Up $40 Million in 2008
Needed additional staff as a result of a rapidly growing city is one of the main reasons that the Red Deer 2008 operating budget has ballooned from $157 million in 2007 to $197 million. Eight extra police officers, five fire medics, and additional staffing in administrative support, engineering, information technology, human resources, taxation, community services, and parks maintenance have contributed to the budget increase. The rising cost of utilities, general inflationary increases and more money needed for union settlements have also factored into the budget.

February 8, 2008
MP Bob Mills Ending Political Career
After 15 years as Red Deer's member of parliament in Ottawa, Bob Mills has decided to not run in the next federal election. Mills taught at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School from 1964 to 1979. He then started Mills Travel which he operated for 15 years. In 1993, he won a seat in parliament under the Reform Party and was returned by convincing margins in every subsequent election representing Canadian Alliance and the Conservative Party of Canada. Mills holds the record for the longest speech ever made by a Commonwealth parliamentarian when he spoke for four days in response to Canada's commitment to the Kyoto Accord. He was also, in large part, responsible for the passing of Lisa's Law, created to shield children from pedophile parents. He was chosen to chair the government's environment committee and has been a champion of alternative waste management including the charge to bring a plasma gasification plant to the Red Deer region.

February 6, 2008
Provincial Support Requested For Garbage Gasification
The Central Waste Management Commission, consisting of 15 Central Alberta communities, is requesting a performance guarantee letter from the Alberta government in order to proceed with the Plasco garbage gasification plant proposed for a site east of Penhold. Plasco will finance the project but each participating municipality must supply sufficient garbage for 20 years. Since the commission has no assets to back up a guarantee, the project bankers need a letter from the province to ensure the agreement terms are fulfilled. The $90 million to $100 million plant is expected to use about 200 tonnes of waste per day and will generate electricity for sale into the provincial grid.
Proposed World-Class Biofuels Plant Waiting for Permits
The $400 million biofuels plant proposed just north of Innisfail by Alberta Ethanol and Biodiesel is ready to proceed as soon as it receives permits from the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board and Alberta Environment. It is hoped the permits will be in place by the end of April and construction will start soon after. Once built, the plant will produce 379 million litres of ethanol and 379 million litres of canola-based biodiesel annually.
First Project Approved for New City Industrial Land
The Red Deer municipal planning commission has approved the first project to come forward on the newly-annexed industrial land west of Highway QE2 within Queens Business Park. Phase 1 is a newly-constructed four-bay industrial building. Phase 2 is an office building that will be constructed with prior approval of Red Deer County. The approved project is on private property and the developer will supply water and sewer. City-owned serviced land will be available within the year.
City Single Family Housing Starts May Reflect an End to Frenzy
After a couple of years of builders not being able to keep up with demand, construction of single family homes in Red Deer has slowed down considerably with only 30 permits issued in January. The previous January saw 93 starts and January 2006 saw 84 starts. It appears that supply has caught up with demand, in part as a result of possible speculative over-building last year. Meanwhile, multi-family housing starts went up. Two apartment projects valued at $5.5 million started in January as well as six multi-plex housing projects. Commercial permits also increased over the same month last year.

February 5, 2008
Wildlife Centre Gets Assistance from Rick Mercer
Comedian and TV personality Rick Mercer is to be featured at a fundraising dinner for the Medicine River Wildlife Centre. The centre is embarking on a path to be debt-free and self-sustaining that includes paying off the mortgage, upgrading the facility west of Innisfail and establishing an endowment of $6 million to $8 million. The centre, which has been operating for 24 years, rescues and rehabilitates around 1,000 wild animals a year. Equally important is its educational focus, teaching groups from preschool to seniors. The fundraiser will be held at the Capri Convention Centre in Red Deer May 11.

February 4, 2008
Tourist Rail Trail Proposed West of Rocky Mountain House
Clearwater County is proposing a 120-km hiking and cycling trail between Rocky Mountain House and Nordegg on an abandoned rail line. The trail could be a major tourist attraction with river-spanning bridges amid spectacular mountain backdrops. Council has approved seeking provincial funding for the $100,000 design concept. Estimates for getting the route into shape range from $1 million to $2 million. Among the challenges will be replacing decking on three rail trestles and crossing two dozen streams. There are a number of small former mining communities along the route that have historical value. It is expected that the trail would be built in sections over several years.
Lacombe College to Grant Education Degrees
Canadian University College in Lacombe will soon be able to offer its own bachelor of education degrees for the first time. For the past 29 years, the college has partnered with Union College in Nebraska so Lacombe students could graduate with a degree from Nebraska but they still had to apply for teacher certification in Alberta. Canadian University College is a Christian university sponsored by Seventh-Day Adventists.

February 2, 2008
City Building Permits Down From Previous Year
The rapid pace of residential building a year ago has slowed down. The city of Red Deer issued 121 residential permits valued at $11.7 million in January compared to 225 permits issued in January 2007 worth $15.5 million. Industrial and institutional permits were also down but commercial permits valued at $7 million were issued, with $5.5 million for the two-storey addition to the Millennium Centre downtown. Total permits were down at $19 million compared to $24.3 million for January the previous year.

February 1, 2008
Author Discusses Positive Geography of Hope
Chris Turner of Calgary, national best-selling author of 'Geography of Hope', addressed a crowd of about 150 at the Red Deer Public Library last evening with a message of hope for positive alternatives to fossil fuels in an era of climate change. He toured the world and found several instances of successful projects already accomplished in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases and produce more energy than is consumed. Examples were shown from various countries including Germany, Denmark and India. Sustainable developments and green initiatives show that attitudes are changing but much more can be done. Turner was sponsored by Rethink Red Deer, Sustainable Red Deer and Red Deer College Green Campus.
Homelessness Task Force Reveals Vision for Elimination
The Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness has revealed its vision for the elimination of homelessness after a three-year extensive public consultation. The report identified that 213 new affordable housing units a year are needed in Red Deer to accommodate all the people who are homeless or are living in substandard, unaffordable or unsuitable housing. It also identified that 2,200 people in the city already live in housing they can't afford or are inadequate and 660 are at risk of becoming homeless. Mayor Morris Flewwelling indicated that the next step is to hire a co-ordinator to develop a plan to turn the concepts into action. One strategy suggests that the city create a housing development corporation to get affordable projects off the ground.
Blackfalds Wants to Annex Over 2,000 Acres
The town of Blackfalds has indicated that it wants to annex over 12 quarter sections of land this year, representing 2,060 acres mostly on the east side of town, in a move to provide 30 years of growth before another annexation. Lacombe County and town residents have not objected to the proposal. The proposal affects 25 landowners and 27 parcels of land.
Joffre Nova Ethylene Plants Prosperous for Company
Nova Chemicals Corp. Joffre ethylene and polyethylene plants, the world's largest complex of its kind, are expected to prosper regardless of the direction of the U.S. economy. Its competitive advantage means that profit margins and volumes will widen as oil prices remain high and developing country demand grows. Aside from the North American market, Nova is exporting to China, India, Latin America and the Middle East.

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