Rocky View County (RVC) Division 1 residents who attended the town hall meeting at the Bragg Creek Community Centre on Jan. 16, told local Councillor Liz Breakey about the top priorities they’d like to see the County focus on moving forward.
“The County is going into its discussions about the four-year strategic focus, so I need to hear what people really care about,” said Breakey, adding the objective of the meeting was to update people about ongoing projects in the Bragg Creek-area and to get a sense of what new initiatives should be focused on in this term.
About 75 people attended the meeting and 62 people responded to a survey ranking issues - such as development of emergency management plans, updating statutory plans, flood mitigation and river bank armouring work, and economic development planning - on a scale of low, medium and high priority.
The results showed the highest priorities for the majority of residents are to develop a secondary egress from West Bragg Creek; to armour and restore the riverbanks; to develop tourism potential; and to update the hamlet redevelopment plan once water and wastewater servicing to the hamlet is complete.
Breakey said she was “delighted” with the response from the survey.
“This was a tool to get feedback and give me more direction and a sense of where things are at the moment,” said Breakey, adding she is planning to mail-out the survey to residents of Division 1 to include a larger demographic.
Other high priorities identified in the survey for a majority of residents include developing the riverfront community hub and pathways; attracting new businesses to the hamlet and implementing firesmart policies.
Several RVC Infrastructure and Operations staff were on hand at the open house to answer residents’ questions about the water and wastewater servicing that is being implemented in the hamlet after the County received grants from the Provincial government through its Disaster Recovery Program.
On Sept. 19, 2013, the Government of Alberta pledged $9.8 million to RVC in support of water and wastewater systems in Bragg Creek to help with the financial burden of hooking properties up to a potable water distribution system, which has been under construction since 2009. Previously, servicing in Bragg Creek consisted of private wells and septic fields, as well as trucking in drinking water and trucking out wastewater.
RVC Manager of Infrastructure and Operations Byron Riemann said 125 residents and 35 businesses will be serviced through the program. Construction for in-lot servicing began in December 2013. Riemann said the County is hoping servicing will be completed by the end of this year, but said there may be some carry-over into 2015 to finalize the project.
The project, which has a total estimated cost of $29.8 million, is being funded by a combination of grants, a local improvement tax, and levies expected to come in from future development.
For Amarin Dawn, owner of the Yoga Within the Heart studio in Bragg Creek, the water and wastewater servicing is “the best news the hamlet has received in 20 years.”
“It’s the foundation for the entire future of the community to be able to develop and increase our tourism..and it’s what’s going to put us on the map as a really great destination and place to live,” she said.
Dawn said the burden for businesses having to truck-in water and haul-out wastewater has hindered the growth of the hamlet and made it financially difficult for the business economy to survive.
“Now we can have a small boutique hotel, some low-income residences within the hamlet, work on senior’s housing and some apartments,” said Dawn, adding more living options will allow the younger generation to stay in the community.
Dawn, a 20-year resident of Bragg Creek, said she attended the meeting to see how the community’s priorities align with her own.
Margaret Barclay, owner of the Crabapple Cottage in Bragg Creek, echoed Dawn’s sentiments.
“It’s a benefit to the community to have a more diverse demographic, to build up our downtown area and to have different types of housing and more people of different age ranges to live in the community that contribute to businesses and to staffing,” said Barclay.
“I think Bragg Creek will become self-sufficient and then tourism will enhance it. We should be able to become a sustainable community with some population growth and diversity of a demographic in the area which all the development will bring based on the water and sewer,” she added.
Breakey said the town hall meeting will be followed by a community-building workshop in March called Recreate the Creek.
She added the information and comments received at the meeting will also be useful in discussions with the County regarding setting the four-year strategic plan.
She said she doesn’t imagine the focus to change too much from what was implemented in the 2011 to 2013 Strategic Plan.
During the last three years, the County focused on financial sustainability – paying down the debt, land-use planning, improving communication, and development and maintenance of roads.
