NEWS of the Red Deer Region - March 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).
March 2008 Part 1

March 14, 2008
Sylvan Lake Preserves Green Space
After being presented with a 1,000-name petition, Sylvan Lake town council has decided not to develop green space on former Canadian Pacific land north of H.J. Cody High School. The site had been one of the preferred locations of a new RCMP station. Two possible sites remain for consideration -- the existing RCMP detachment site and the Beacon Hill site on 50th St. which could also accommodate a fire hall and new town hall in the future.
Sylvan and Gull Lake RV Parks Proposed
A developer is proposing two large RV parks close to golf courses near Sylvan Lake and Gull Lake. The Sylvan Lake site is a kilometre north of the lake and would consist of 582 seasonal and 85 daily lots developed over three years with features including a pool, volleyball courts, baseball diamonds, playing field, laundry and washroom facilities. The Gull Lake site would stretch along four kilometres along the lake and would consist of 2,981 seasonal and 195 daily lots developed over ten years with features including two marinas, a 1950's-style boardwalk, restaurants, businesses, and an 18-hole public golf course with the holes interspersed among the lots. The proposal will go to Lacombe County and public open houses for approval.

March 13, 2008
Three Regional MLAs in Provincial Cabinet
Premier Ed Stelmach's new cabinet includes three representatives from Central Alberta. Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Luke Ouellette, who has been in cabinet since 2006, is Minister of Transportation. Red Deer North MLA Mary Anne Jablonski is the new Minister of Seniors and Community Supports. Drumheller-Stettler MLA Jack Hayden is Minister of Infrastructure.
Gateway Christian High School Proceeds While Waiting for River Glen
The Red Deer Public School District has decided to proceed with expanding Gateway Christian School to high school grades in spite of considerable opposition and the lack of a facility. The original plan had the Gateway high school operating out of the River Glen School currently operated by Chinook's Edge School Division and scheduled to be transferred to the Red Deer Public School District once a regional high school is built outside of the city. That plan has been stalled due to lack of provincial funding for the new regional school. In the meantime, Gateway will expand to Grade 10 in the fall operating morning classes at Gateway School and afternoon classes at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School. Grade 11 will be added in 2009 and Grade 12 in 2010.
Bowden Refinery May Be Used for Storage
Parkland Income Fund is looking at an arrangement whereby the storage tanks at the inactive Bowden Refinery may be used for petroleum products to be produced by a proposed new processing facility near Edmonton. The Bowden tanks can store up to 180,000 barrels. There may also be future demand to reactivate the refinery. The refinery is currently being used to upgrade oilfield drilling fluids, a contract that will expire this year. Parkland bought the refinery from Shell Canada in 1987. It closed the plant in 2001, two years after an unsuccessful attempt to transfer the facility to the Blood Tribe of Standoff.

March 12, 2008
Springbrook Infrastructure Rehab Project to Start in Spring
The first phase of what is expected to be an $11.5 million project to fix a long-standing need to replace water and sewer infrastructure throughout the hamlet of Springbrook has been awarded by Red Deer County. AIC Construction Ltd. is expected to start construction of the $1.6 million first phase in May for the project that was first announced in 2005. The overall project could take up to five years to complete. Funding for the project includes $6 million from Canada-Alberta Municipal Rural Infrastructure Funding (CAMRIF) announced in December, $3 million from Red Deer County and $2.5 million from a separate funding program by Alberta Transportation and Infrastructure. Currently, the county spends $200,000 per year to clean 71 million litres of groundwater that infiltrates the water system.
Ecologically Friendly Timberstone Park Gets First Reading
Red Deer city council has given first reading to the area structure plan for Timberstone Park, to be located northeast of the corner of 30 Ave. and Highway 11 in east Red Deer. Within the new 118-acre neighbourhood will be a private enclave of 82 detached single family ecologically sustainable home condos east of College Park and a treed preserve that will be built to the gold standard of environmental design with many energy-efficient features. The subdivision will have a total of around 700 homes that will include narrow lot homes, duplexes and multi-family units. The existing Balmoral Bible Chapel will be part of the development.

March 11, 2008
Red Deer Has Estimated Eight Month Supply of New Housing
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation estimates that there is about an eight month supply of new housing units either currently on the market or under construction. As a result, new housing starts have slowed down dramatically until the market absorbs some of the inventory. In February, 58 housing starts consisted of 28 single detached homes and 30 multi-family units compared to 105 single family and 71 multi-family starts a year ago. January 2008 was also a quiet month with 32 single detached and no multi-family starts, compared to 89 single detached and 122 multi-family starts a year earlier. There were 70 new, unoccupied, single-detached homes on the market in January and 491 under construction with an additional 515 multi-family units also under construction.
Bowden Museum Gets Recognized Status
The Alberta Museum Association has awarded the Bowden Museum the designation of a recognized museum by submitting evidence proving they are a non-profit society with proper conservation techniques, acquisitions, research and exhibitions. There are currently 108 recognized museums across the province. Only recognized museums can apply for funding and other support from the provincial association.

March 8, 2008
Call Centre to Close in June
Cincinnati-based Convergys will close its Red Deer call centre at the end of June, putting 280 people out of work. The company has operated from the Bower Place Shopping Centre since June 2003, at one point peaking at 1,100 employees. The declining Canadian-U.S. exchange rate and available capacity that couldn't be filled were the two main reasons for the closure. Employees will likely have little trouble finding work in the city's tight labour market. The maill has a contingency plan in place that will create about two dozen new stores in its place as part of its current $10 million makeover.
Credit Union Rejects Offer to Purchase
An offer to purchase Red Deer-based Community Savings by Alberta-based Western Financial Group was unanimously rejected by the credit union's board of directors yesterday. Among the reasons for rejecting the offer was that a bank would have different priorities than a credit union including the lack of profit-sharing. Community Savings has 30 branches, 110,000 members and an asset base in excess of $2.7 billion.

March 7, 2008
Canyon Ski Area For Sale
Alberta's largest non-mountain ski facility, Canyon Ski and Recreation Area, located 10 minutes east of the city of Red Deer, is for sale. The current owners hope that the facility can be retained for skiing either by a new owner or the city itself. Developers have expressed an interest in the property for non-skiing development. The asking price for the property is $3 million.

March 6, 2008
Sports Academy Offered by Notre Dame High School
Starting in the fall, Red Deer's Notre Dame High School will offer three sports academy programs -- golf, hockey and fitness for life -- to get students active now and in the future, allowing students to pursue sports skills and knowledge at a deeper level than offered in traditional physical education classes. Academically, students will study sports-related topics like nutrition and sports psychology in addition to regular subjects.

March 5, 2008
Red Deer Leads Canada in Employment
According to Statistics Canada, Red Deer had the top employment rate in the country in 2006 and also led all of Canada in employment growth. Red Deer's employment rate was 73.5% when the latest census was taken two years ago. This is higher than Alberta's employment rate of 70.9% and Canada's rate of 62.4%. In addition, the average amount that employment grew every year in Red Deer between 2001 and 2006 was 5.1%. The oil and gas sector gained the most workers, followed by construction, health care and social assistance, manufacturing, and retail and trade. The fastest growing industries were utilities, oil and gas, finance, real estate, and administrative support for waste management. In 2006, the city's unemployment rate was 4.4%. Since 2006, the over-heated economy has cooled somewhat as a result of the higher Canadian dollar, the lack of local skilled workers and the declining price of natural gas.
City's Nossack Meats Buys Innisfail's Sepp's Foods
Locally-owned Nossack Fine Meats has purchased Sepp's Fine Foods in Innisfail. Sepp's employs about 50 people and its products include sausage and pastry rolls, pot pies, quiche, mini-deep-dish pizzas and hors d'oeuvres. Nossack employs about 80 people and sells a variety of meats, including roast beef, back bacon, pastrami, corned beef, turkey breast, smoked meats for pizza, and specialty hams. The Innisfail plant will continue as usual and renamed Nossack Gourmet Foods.

March 4, 2008
Regional Conservatives Part of Stelmach Landslide
The Stelmach Conservative government increased their hold on the province in yesterday's election with 72 of 83 seats compared to 62 in the previous election and 60 at dissolution. The party also received 53% of the popular vote compared to 47% in the previous election. However voter turnout was the lowest in history at 41%. Red Deer North will be represented by 8-year veteran Mary Anne Jablonski; Red Deer South by newcomer Cal Dallas; Innisfail-Sylvan Lake by 7-year veteran Luke Ouellette; Lacombe-Ponoka by 4-year veteran Ray Prins; Rocky Mountain House by 19-year veteran Ty Lund; Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills by 11-year veteran Richard Marz; and Stettler-Drumheller by relative newcomer Jack Hayden.
City Building Permits Down Dramatically from Last Year
The city of Red Deer issued 94 residential permits in February valued at $5 million compared to 228 permits for the same month last year valued at $15.6 million. The total residential permits issued for the first two months this year was 214 for a total value of $16.7 million compared to 453 permits last year valued at $31.1 million. However commercial permits in February were valued at $893 million compared to $276,000 in February 2007. Year to date, commercial permits were valued at $7.9 million compared to $1.3 million for the same period last year. This year's biggest project so far is the $5.5 million addition to the downtown Millennium Centre. Both industrial and public construction are down from last year.

March 3, 2008
Culture Workshop Suggests International District Downtown
In a recent series of workshops and discussions, where participants were invited to comment on recommendations within the draft Red Deer Culture Development Master Plan, the idea of an international district in the downtown emerged. It was also suggested that the international district be connected to an arts and culture district in the future Riverlands. Core values emerged from the exercise that included cherishing the city's cultural diversity and celebrating its rural roots. Five themes became evident including diversity, green space, agora space, built space and activities. The draft plan is expected to go to city council in June.
Proposed Gull Lake RV Resort Moves Forward
Lacombe County council has given second reading to rezone 120 acres to recreational from agricultural for a proposed 500-lot recreational vehicle resort near Gull Lake. The development would include condominium RV sites, a lodge, interpretive centre and private boat launch. Final reading will go to council in the spring.

March 1, 2008
Addition of 2 Storeys to City Office Building Well Under Way
The $5.5 million two-storey addition to the five-storey Millennium Centre in downtown Red Deer is well under way and is expected to be completed by the fall. The expansion will give the 102,650 sq. ft. building an additional 40,000 sq. ft.
Third City Health Centre Ready to Open
The David Thompson Health Region is set to open its third community health centre on Monday in north Red Deer at Johnstone Crossing, a location that is expected to also draw people from the Blackfalds area. The new 30,000 sq. ft. centre will take some pressure off the Bremner and downtown facilities providing services that include public health nursing, travel and family immunization clinics, prenatal classes, maternal/child drop-in services, communicable disease control, nutrition, dental health and general health programs. The Bremner location will soon undergo some renovations.

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