Transfer Station

[cowman]

Linda: You wouldn't believe how fast they are plowing the mud out of that field where they are building the transfer station! Four cats/ two track hoes! Looks like there must be at least a couple of feet of black dirt!...Save the farmland?
Apparently some old squatter on a nearby acreage is all up in arms about not being consulted and has the rest of the squatters up in arms and have consulted a lawyer! About the time they might do much it will probably be finished!
I guess that is the way to get things built? Just to hell with getting the proper zoning/permits etc....just build the darned thing and let them squawk? Maybe your power company boys should consider letting the county build that power line? LOL

[kpb]

I'm starting to wonder why we're worried about saving farmland. Maybe we have too much farmland already--given that it's difficult to find a crop to make any sort of money with. LOL. I say let's allow unhindered development of all kinds on ag land and get rid of some of it for a profit to the former owner.


kpb

[kpb]

cowman, in the past courts have ordered some municipalities to stop work on a project if they felt there had not been adequate public consultation.

[cakadu]

I could be very remiss here, but unless they held it out in cowman's neck of the woods, we didn't know too much about it.

Emrald, would something like the siting of a transfer station require public consultation or would it be something that the municipality could deem they need and put it where they wanted?

Would arguments such as garbage etc. blowing all over, smells and what not be enough to get a stop-work order? I can't imagine living in the vicinty of one would be too pleasant if the wind was blowing in the right direction on a hot day, never mind the eyesore it would become. Look at how much garbage can collect along one's fenceline just from the wind blowing and people throwing their garbage out the window.

In some respects I can see why the people living adjacent might be upset.

[cowman]

Linda they never had any public consultation. By the time they announced they were going ahead the cats were basically in there! Late yesterday they started hauling gravel in.
The claim is this is going to be a totally indoor station...trucks unloaded inside. They also claim there is going to be a berm all around the property and landscaped with trees grass etc.

[cowman]

If the land required rezoning it would have been necessary to have a public consultation.
If the entire facility is to be indoors, then the only recourse adjacent landowners would have is to appeal their tax assessment on the grounds of increased traffic to and fron the site.

[cowman]

Apparently it was zoned agriculture B which allows for a transfer site...but not a landfill...which is not being proposed...but they did buy 40 acres?
The latest kick by the protesters is they think the county is not being completely candid about this just being a transfer site? They actually think this will be the site for the biodigester that has been proposed? And I wonder too? This site sits almost exactly where the bio gas study showed was the most economical area for construction of a very large bio digester! And on top of that the landowner who sold this land is also planning to build a crusher and bio deisel plant in that immediate area and had approached the bio digester group about using the waste heat in his bio deisel plant and a place to get rid of the aftermaths of the crush!
Now I have not heard of any under the table deals...but it sure makes you wonder?

[cowman]

A biodigestor would likely be considered a commercial operation so it would need rezoning if that isn't allowed in the B district.

[cowman]

Well I don't think they were thinking of putting it up tommorrow? Right now it is only going to be a transfer station...a big transfer station! Apparently they are going to be doing some major recycling there also.
Anyway the squatters are up in arms! Thats what my old uncle calls acreage owners....Here today gone tommorrow...usually last about two years!
They are a little miffed that they weren't consulted...and are not happy campers! By the time they heard the County "might" be considering their neighborhood, the cats and hoes were being unloaded! I guess the county didn't have many options with the city booting them out of the Red Deer landfill!
I was talking to the guy who hauls the county roadkill to the Red Deer dump! He said the city raised costs almost double for anything coming in from the county! Spiteful little buggers?

[cowman]

There are major issues between the county and the city and if it plays out like it is in other areas of the province the city will do everything it can to poke the county with a stick until they are successful in annexing gasoline alley !!

[cowman]

It is a pretty sad situation. Quite frankly the city is acting like a bunch of spoiled brats!
Red Deer has always been run by a bunch of "old boys" who like to keep out the competition! In my opinion they are nothing but a bunch of robber barons who should be taken out and hung!
At a recent "townhall" meeting I think the county ratepayers made it very clear that they expect the council and administration to not be buffaloed by these bastards! And if that word sounds too harsh...let me tell you there were people there who used a lot stronger language!
It is kind of funny really? Here we have a county with 18,000 residents that has a superior adnministration, tax structure, staff than the city of 75,000! Red Deer is probably one of the worst run and backwards thinking municipalities in the province!

[cowman]

Your situation isn't unique cowman. The County of Grande Prairie is experiencing the same problems.

The town of Drayton Valley has spent the last fifteen years trying to force the county into submission and one government but the rural people have stood their ground time and time again.
The Town annexed some land five years ago after a three year NEGIATED settlement, the town agreed and signed a document indicating they would not try and annex again for ten years, but now they and the county council are having monthly meetings regarding annexation.The Municipal Government Board makes the final decision and all too often they don't understand the local issues.

I can remember attending a legal forum ten years ago where urban mayors were spewing forth about how wrong it was for rural municipalities to allow commercial and residential development in the urban fringe.

The then, reeve of Yellowhead County really told them were the bear crapped in the buckwheat and said that rural centres aren't all about raising pigs, they are about people having choices in land uses and being governed by a rural municipalitiy vs the urban one where tax dollars are frittered away on airy fairy items vs essential services !!0

Of course everyone wants to marry somebody with money and that is what is behind all of these issues.. GREED, and the lack of the urban centres to manage their tax dollars and live within their means.