landfill/transfer station

[cowman]

Linda: I find it sort of funny the operations manager is being quoted as saying "Negotiations are ongoing with a land owner for aquisition on a proposed site"? Like in the paper two days ago?
Yesterday they unloaded two big cats and two track hoes on the "proposed site"! It was surveyed at least three weeks ago!
I wonder if the rhetoric of "negotiation" has anything to do with a bit of embarassment about what the price tag is?
I also note an article about how the county has now locked in a 75 year supply of gravel? The affected landowners will get a yearly sum paid for gravel in reserve(in other words an option) and then paid as it is used.
Now this sounds okay...maybe? The article also said the gravel reserves were all west of highway II so sites would be required east of highway II for stockpiling? It went on to note trucking and stockpiling would be a costly venture but necessary due to no gravel deposits east of highway II!!
Which is pretty amazing as there are several private pits that use more gravel/sand than the county! The whole country east and north of Pine Lake is gravel! The whole river vally on the east side of the county is gravel!...Well maybe they didn't look too hard? Or maybe someone in the "inner circle" owns some gravel west of highway II? Good old politics! A money maker?

[ivbinconned]

cowman,here's the thing. Regardless of how much gravel is located along rivers it isn't a given that your municipality can obtain a Surface Materials Lease ( SML) just for the asking.
Many municipalities have gone through untold hoops to try and acquire SML's only to be turned down due to public pressure from environmentalists etc.

Private land owners are developing their own gravel, not selling it to municipalities in the raw state, so that may not be an option.

Most forward planning municipalities will tie down two things well in advance of needing them:

LAND FOR WASTE DISPOSAL

GRAVEL SOURCES


I would think your county is doing both of those in an effort to save tax dollars in the long run.

[cowman]

Well they are cutting a fine line on the waste disposal thing? Going to be touch and go if they get it built before the city tosses them out on July 7th!
As far as the gravel thing: The eastern portion of Red Deer county is like dogpatch and I doubt an environmentalist even knows it exists! It is actually really beautiful and a gem waiting to be discovered! The people there are crying for developement...any developement, as it is rapidly depopulating! Land prices are actually still fairly reasonable there.
I think Linda knows a bit about some of the "politics of gravel" in Red Deer county! Lets just say it has been shady to say the least and some people have made a fortune playing politics!

[cowman]

Unfortunately there will always be winners and losers where development is concerned.