Leaving a Footprint

[cowman]

The sewage from the Glennifer Lake resort is trucked up to Penhold and put into the Red Deer sewage system! Obviously very costly!
The Klein governments $3 billion announcement for infrastructure spending means RD County will recieve $18.5 million over ten years, therfore $1.85 million a year? So $1.85 million plus $4.5 million in extra oil and gas revenue....and they still need to increase the tax rate 1.5%? hmmm...I wonder where all the money went?
The independent audit of the county office showed the county was right on budget at $6.2 million? How come I have a paper clipping of the original announcement, before they started building, that the total cost would be right around $2.5 million? I guess if you can change the budget whenever you need to then you have no problem with an audit? How about the $375,000 for a bigger parking lot? Got to have some place for the bloated staff to park, right?
The idea of paying off the peasants so they won't develop their land is better than just shafting them I guess? I still believe the "planners" need to realize that Red Deer County is basically changing from an "agricultural county" to a playground for the wealthy! They have an amazing ability to see the "light"....right after some sleazy speculator buys out a farmer!
One thing we do know for sure...people want access to water, a mountain view, and all the amenities! That is going to happen, no matter what? I can see a day when Glennifer has a bigger population than Sylvan Lake?

[cowman]

cowman, hauling sewage from holding tanks is costly but hopefully the user pays and this service is not provided on the backs of the rest of the taxpayers.
Garbage disposal is another issue as municipalities face the facts of landfills that are rapidly coming to the end of their lifetime.
In my municipality any of us that choose to may obtain garbage pick up at our gate but we pay for the entire cost of the service.
We can arrange to rent a garbage bin or have gate pickup of four garbage cans plus bags of garbage. My cost is $36.00 per month, up from $20.00 per month six years ago, but still a lot less than the cost of a garbage bin which would be around $85.00 per month.
The development of rural municipalities isn't cheap, and as far as I am concerned developers should provide the infrastructure, and upgrade municipal roads if necessary.
The population seems to be moving toward lifestyle living, adjacent to golf courses, lakes etc. and where there is a demand someone will provide the product.

[Horse]

Cowman you seem to have a hate on for everyone that wastes money you feel is your taxs I have a hate on for everyone that wastes my money including oil companys and gov, and when I see the oil companys and the way they operate I think they could teach the liberals a few tricks ,I guess it all dpends on who butters your bread.
Emerald do you think the economie can sustain itself the way its going with people driving hundreds of miles per week to work and building 2000ft plus houses and all the amenities .
I think a large percentage of population are living on credit and will be like a neibour of mine that told me it took him 5 yr to go broke but he now has to move on.

[Horse]

Horse, frankly I think that people that build 'hotels' for houses, have a huge mortgage and drive miles to and from work every day are totally NUTS, but its their business.
The fact of the matter is that people are demanding this sort of lifestyle and in most cases both partners in a family are willing to work to have that lifestyle.
My idea of living the life of luxury is having the back forty to walk in peace and quiet....and I wouldn't trade that lifestyle for the biggest mansion in the fanciest country residential subdivision in AB.
Just came in from checking the cows out on the pasture and got soaked in a nice shower.....that means more to me than playing on the ritziest golf course in existence but to each his own.

[cakadu]

Cowman, seems to me that I read recently in the County news that they are putting in new/additional pipelines at Gleniffer. I'll have to go and look at the paper again to see exactly what it was, but they were advertising it and the whole ball of wax.

The real meat to all of this is that the residents around the lake should realize that in order to have that lake (or more correctly in this case the reservoir for the dam) be in the condition that they want it in to be able to enjoy it, that they will need to help look after it. That means no "golf course" lawns that they put too much chemical on not understanding that the drainage ends up somewhere, sewage systems - whatever they may be - should go beyond the current legislation etc.

Some people around here have bought lots at the lake on speculation that they will someday realize "big bucks" for them. Many of the lake residents do not want the county getting too involved as that means more money going to the county.

If they want buy-in to this concept about growing the lake and the potential for it to get really big, then the best solution would be to be upfront and transparent about what they want and include the permanent residents of the area from the outset. We aren't going to stop the development from happening, but we can sure try to do what is best for everyone.

[cakadu]

Linda, if the County is concerned or if residents are concerned about the water quality in the lake then a ban on chemicals or chemical fertilizer could be a condition of the ASP.
Is the county putting in waterlines or is a developer doing it or is the county the developer ?

[tower]

There's the problem, we all want to have the lake and eat it too. By the time the cumulative impacts of the development are noticed the development is done and the developers are on to the next scheme.

Anyone who is relatively satisfied with the way things are now, and I think we all ought to be pretty d#%& satisfied, should be getting the development agents to pay for projections of final costs, including environmental, social, and financial.

[tower]

I assume that the county is funding a lot of the development costs. Some municipalities do this in order to encourage development but believe me residential development costs municipalities vs being a financial windfall !! The demand for services, street lighting and other infrastructure rar outweighs the tax dollars injected in the long haul.
The environmental affect is something that needs to be addressed upfront in large projects or the loser will be all Albertans .

Any resident can attend public hearings and make suggestions for conditions to development permits, ASP's etc. Common sense suggestions should be given consideration.

[cakadu]

Emrald, the public notice regarding Gleniffer Lake had to do with the approval for renewal of an existing water treatment facility. The renewal was to include the approval of a major upgrade of the facility. The upgraded facility will be located in the SW 19-35-2-W5 - about 20 miles from Innisfail. With a treatment capacity of 870 cubic meteres per day, the facility will include a package conventional filtration plant (coagulation, flocculation and filtration) chlorine and UV disinfection as well as two underground water storage reservoirs. The combined storage capacity of the two reservoirs will be 643 cubic metres. Waste water from the water treatment facility, after solids removal and dechlorination will be discharged into the lake.

Hopefully this will be safe for all users of that water.

The other thing that we residents of the county are going to have to pay attention to is the fact that the county is going to look at building up areas such as Gleniffer, Springbrook so that they can save on agricultural land. It should be okay as long as they include public consultation right from the outset. They are going to be releasing the results of the third study that the county has commissioned very soon regarding development rights, which includes building up these smaller areas.

There is serious growth projected for Gleniffer as the baby boomers want to retire and have some place nice to reside in year round. Not quite the Okanagan, but the best we've got?????

Do you ever get the feeling that things are moving far too fast for us to have any idea of the cumulative and/or long-term effects and consequences of what we are doing?

[cakadu]

Linda, public consultation must take place at each stage of development if it involves rezoning, approval of ASP's or approval of subdivisions by MPC. I think that pressure on municipalities such as Red Deer, Rockyview etc. and Parkland and Leduc is tremendous and councils are put to the test dealing with the balancing act that is necessary to ensure that they manaage there land base in a way that will sustain agriculture as well as allow choices for those who wish to live in the rural areas.