County funds regional recreation facilities

Rocky View County Council Briefs: From the July 3 meeting

County council voted unanimously to provide $795,735 in funding to four county recreation facilities, July 3.

A total of $177,808 will be given to the City of Airdrie for the maintenance and operation of Genesis Place, with $147,490 going to the Chestermere Regional Recreation Centre, $70,437 to the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre and $400,000 to Springbank Park for All Seasons.

The facilities, which have been traditionally supported by their respective district recreation boards, were reassigned to the regional funding level this year.

“We are happy to support the recreation requests,” said County Reeve Rolly Ashdown. “We appreciate the time and effort the recreation boards spend reviewing the applications. The community organizations they support foster community spirit and participation in an active lifestyle, which is so important for the overall health of our citizens.”

Coupled with the $648,351 allocated to regional recreation boards in June, the total provided for regional recreation amenities in 2012 totals $1,444,086.

Bearspaw Emergency Services Centre

Council decided to strike a formal agreement with RockPointe Church for the acquisition of church lands for the construction of the Bearspaw Emergency Services Centre. The decision was unanimous.

Drew Hyndman of the County’s municipal planning department told council the church’s membership voted in favour of allowing the County to construct the centre on church lands, located at the intersection of Highway 1A and Lochend Road.

He said the County also held an open house on the project in June that was attended by 35 people, all of whom voiced their support.

“There is overwhelming support within the community for this facility to proceed,” said Hyndman.

The next steps will be to rezone and subdivide the land in order to begin the construction process.

The County hopes to have the centre up and running by the end of 2013.

Range Road 53 repairs

Residents may soon notice a change to Range Road 53 at Grand Valley Creek. Council voted to make repairs to the road southwest of Cochrane.

The road was damaged by high water flows in the creek that were caused by heavy rains in May 2011.

The damage was assessed by an officer from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency’s disaster recovery program, and the Province will reimburse the County for the repairs, which are estimated at $70,000.

Once required approvals from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Alberta Environment, Alberta Transportation and Sustainable Resource Development have been secured, work will begin to repair the damage and armour the side slope of the road to allow it to sustain future high flow situations.