BOWDEN - Mayor Robb Stuart says in 2019 the town will carry on with its efforts to lure business; efforts that bore fruit this year when a handful of businesses opened on the main street.
Stuart says council will also continue supporting a proposal by a couple of developers to bring low-cost housing to the community via the tiny homes.
Over the past year or so, three or four new businesses have opened — or are about to open — on the main street (20th Street) in Bowden.
Stuart is pleased with that development.
"We've been trying to attract them and they have looked, I guess, and shopped around," he told the Albertan.
He's hopeful that trend will continue, especially because council now has an economic development committee working hard to lure more businesses to town.
In addition, said Stuart, "we joined CAEP again, the Central Alberta Economic Partnership, out of Red Deer, and we're looking for some benefits from that."
Lucas and Lindsay Brann want to develop the homes on a tract of land just west of the Bowden Hotel.
The energy-efficient homes would range from 384 square feet to about 500 square feet, including one-bedroom loft units and two-bedroom models.
The goal is to price them starting from under $100,000 so young people and those making minimum wage as well as retirees could afford them.
Initially they were looking at creating as many as 14 homes, but that's since been scaled back to homes on seven lots.
Stuart said council is really hopeful the tiny homes development will indeed occur.
"We really want to make that work if we can," he said.
However, one potential issue is that the land in question borders on Highway 2A and Stuart says Alberta Transportation has in the past indicated it doesn't want vehicles parked along that highway.
"The fly in the ointment is Transportation, of course. If they want to build on those lots, Transportation has a big say in that," he said.
Council also has to rezone the land to residential from commercial but that's not expected to be a big problem.
Stuart says the startup this past summer of the new Paterson grain terminal just north of town is expected to bring some economic spinoffs for the town.
In conjunction with Red Deer County, Bowden council changed the intermunicipal development plan for the town and county to enable the terminal to be constructed there.
"That was zoned as residential for some reason. Of course that was never going to happen," he said.
Stuart said council will begin working in earnest on the town's 2019 budget early in the new year. But as usual, they won't be able to finalize it until likely late March, after Red Deer County has determined its mill rate.
Stuart said another highlight this past year occurred when Alberta Transportation gave the town a $60,000 credit for its street lights.
"They were billing us for what should have been Transportation lights," he said.
Councillors took up the issue with Transportation reps during the annual Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) conference this fall.
"It worked.
"They said, 'oh we'll look into it.' They looked into it and gave us a $60,000 refund," Stuart said.
He conceded that's just one-time money but it's "better than I thought we'd get."
