INNISFAIL – Mayor Jean Barclay says if there's just one thing she wants to see done in town in 2024 she would look no further than the northeast side of Dodd’s Lake.
“I would love to see this community on the north end of Dodd’s Lake begin. It is designated for 101 townhouses, which is part of what we need and part of the solution,” said Barclay in an interview last week with the Albertan. “We would like to see new communities being built and we need housing across a whole housing spectrum. It's not just one kind of housing, it's every kind of housing.”
For the mayor’s full wish list going forward the new housing start for the massive development project at Dodd’s Lake, which was approved by town council last summer, is closely followed by more land sales at the new Southwest Industrial Park, and positive news from the provincial government on the town’s request for financial support to build the new $28.5 million aquatic centre.
To help with land sales at the industrial park the town will soon be hiring an economic development officer to drum up interest.
As for much needed funding for the new aquatic centre, town staff is working on a consultant plan for a fundraising campaign, which could include another new hiring, for the multi million-dollar project.
As for positives already in place, Barclay is buoyed by the current $2 million Shoppers Drug Mart development by Paul’s No Frills Innisfail and the new commercial mall development now under construction at the corner of Main Street and 46th Avenue.
“There are good things happening. I think there's a good feeling in the community and we just need to make sure we continue that momentum,” said Barclay.
In the meantime, the town is doing its best to ensure critically important infrastructure improvements are being addressed.
Barclay noted administration has been working on an Asset Management Plan for the past couple of years to gain insight into the condition of its assets, such as local roads, water and wastewater lines, sidewalks and recreational facilities.
“We're probably underfunding (infrastructure improvements) by a million dollars,” said Barclay. “So, in our budget in November we did make some additions to some reserves to try to shore that up but it's still short and our municipal funding from the province has fallen short of what we were hoping for.”
A big part of the solution, says Barclay, is for the province to pony up more money for infrastructure projects under its new Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF) that begins this year to replace the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI).
“I have seen the figure (LGFF) and no, we're not happy. I'm not happy,” said Barclay, adding the exact LGFF figures for the town were to be released at council’s first meeting of the year on Jan. 8. “I know Alberta Municipalities (AM) has a webinar coming up on January 18 for an hour and a half to discuss LGFF and after speaking with regional colleagues, people are somewhat disappointed.
“I would imagine Alberta Municipalities will continue advocating on behalf of all of us, and we can also do our own advocating,” added Barclay, noting newly-elected AM president Tyler Gandam has said the province is a $1 billion short with its LGFF funding.
“It's so much more powerful when it's done as a group of 265 municipalities, of course. They’re very disappointed.”
Beyond the core infrastructure challenges, Barclay said that the town will focus on continued development of its successful Innisfail Energy Hub initiative, which began in 2022 for the community to become an energy innovation centre.
She said the town also has its sights set on building the 1.5-2 megawatt Innisfail Municipal Solar Farm, a project that is estimated to cost up to $4 million and predicted to bring in annual revenues of more than $600,000.
However, the town still needs formal approval from the Alberta Utilities Commission, and must wait for the scheduled end on Feb. 24 of the province’s seven-month moratorium on approvals for all wind, solar and geothermal projects greater than one megawatt.
It is hoped by the town the project will be operational by this fall.
With regular council meetings beginning this week the mayor remains optimistic going forward, despite the current challenges and ones surely to come in the future.
“I’m really looking forward to 2024 and getting back to work with council,” said Barclay. “Hopefully it will be a great year.”
