MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - The county has responded to questions on an array of topics ranging from renewable development projects to tourism promotion to land use redesignation posed at a recent open house in Bearberry.
About 30 people attended the information session at the Bearberry community centre west of Sundre, with attendees given a chance to ask questions on issues and topics facing the district and the county as a whole.
Bearberry is part of reeve Angela Aalbers’ Division 5, with the reeve and administration providing responses to some of the questions posed at the March 23 open house.
One attendee asked: “Renewable energy, what is the county doing about this?”
Aalbers responded, in part: “We continue to urge any landowner considering entering into agreements for land rental to renewable energy companies to contact the Farmers' Advocate and get strong legal advice on the contracts you may enter into, to pay close attention to reclamation requirements, lease duration, as well as any other issue that may impact your ability to use or sell your land in the future.”
“The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) does not have to engage the municipality or have regard to our land use planning documents. Mountain View County was the first municipality to bring this to the full attention of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta. We successfully passed two resolutions which have paved the way for other municipalities to put pressure on the government of Alberta to revisit their renewable energy strategy and approval processes.”
One attendee asked: “Why are some roads continually graded and re-gravelled when they do not require it?”
Aalbers responded: “Council has set a service level standard for roads to be re-gravelled every four years. However, council also leaves the discretion to our operations department to re-gravel either more or less frequently depending on road condition and road usage.
“Council also leaves the discretion up to operations on how frequently a road is graded. We encourage you to use the county’s mobile app to report road issues directly and in real-time to the county if you see an issue.”
One attendee asked: “Does the school route determine snowplow priorities?”
Aalbers responded: “The school bus routes do not determine snowplow priorities. The priorities are set by council and can be found in procedure 4018-01 snow and ice removal on the county website. The county works collaboratively with the school boards and if there is an issue with a bus route, we will work with the bus driver to try and expediently rectify the situation.”
One attendee asked: “What is the county’s vision for tourism in the county?”
Aalbers responded, in part: “The county continues to accept applications from interested developers from recreation and reviews them on an application-by-application basic, including community input when public hearings are required, or written correspondence to our approving subdivision and development approving authorities.”
One attendee asked: “Is there an audit of crop land to ensure it is not ruined?”
Aalbers responded: “No, the county does not require soil samples to be taken on private lands. The county does monitor county-owned lands through our agriculture services department to ensure they are not being over-grazed and that crop lands are being farmed according to best practices.”
One attendee asked: “Is agriculture land redesignated for environmental purposes?”
Aalbers responded: “Although there may be restrictions on what can be developed in an environmental area as per the county’s statutory plans, council will not redesignate land without a landowner application or in specific circumstances, when the county initiates an application and will involve the landowner.”
One attendee asked: “What is broadband coverage in the county?”
Aalbers responded, in part: “We understand that access to high-speed internet is still a challenge for many of our rural residents and businesses, however we have also witnessed rural municipalities invest in broadband developments that are costly and will be challenged to show real return for taxpayers dollars.
"We must continue to be fiscally responsible and also continue to lobby the province and federal government to provide rural broadband to our residents as a utility.”
At the April 26 council meeting, Aalbers’ report on the Bearberry open house and the county’s responses to the questions was accepted as information.
The complete report, including questions and answers, is available on the county’s website.
