On Feb. 1, Airdrie City council was presented with a proposal from the Tour of Alberta cycling race to become a finish host city during the tour, set to begin in Lethbridge on Aug. 31. This year’s event marks the fourth year of the tour, which attracts some of the world’s top professional cyclists.
Duane Vienneau, president and CEO of the Tour of Alberta, provided council with information about the potential economic impact of hosting the tour, which is televised in 161 countries attracting approximately 47 million viewers.
“What’s unique about the tour than most international sporting events is our broadcast is our province and our communities. We’re not showcasing a stadium or an arena. We’re showcasing where we are for that race,” he said.
According to Vienneau, the net economic impact to communities that have hosted a stage of the tour is approximately $9 million. Sherwood Park, the community most similar to Airdrie to have hosted in a previous year, welcomed 25,000 spectators in 2014. The event made a gross economic impact of $4.1 million and a net economic impact of $1.7 million on the community.
He added communities also benefit from significant media exposure.
The cost to host the stage is $150,000.
A motion to direct staff to look into hosting the stage was made by Councillor Candice Kolson and unanimously supported by council.
Committee Changes
Training will now be mandatory for members of some council committees after council unanimously approved a motion made by Kolson.
Kolson made the motion because she said she was concerned that members of the Municipal Planning Commission (MPC) and the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board (SDAB) might not have the qualifications required to make informed decisions.
“In terms of the MPC, I think it’s very important that we look at people with related experience in the field. They’re an approving authority,” she said. “A lot of time we have people sitting on these boards who have no formal training.
“I would be all for term limits and mandatory training, and I don’t mean board orientation. I mean training in regards to land use bylaws and what that means.”
Currently, the MPC is comprised of seven citizen members and two council members. The SDAB is comprised of five citizen members and two council members.
Councillor Fred Burley said he didn’t want a committee of “developers and engineers,” and that he was concerned about possible conflict of interest.
“We have one developer on our board now but he doesn’t do any work at all in the Airdrie market. Anybody that we bring in with that expertise, I’d like to see that they don’t work in the community.”
Kolson made a second motion directing the chairs of each council committee to have a discussion with the committee members about the implementation of term limits and bring that information back to council. The motion was passed with Hunter and Brown voting against it.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate at this time to have the conversation around term limits,” Brown said. “I’m comfortable with where we’re going to go forward with the first motion with having mandated training for MPC and SDAB. I just think mandated training will be good enough.”
