OLDS — Council has voted to participate in provincial grant application to cover costs for updated satellite or aerial photos of the area.
Council made that decision during its Jan. 11 meeting.
The 2021 South Region Orthophoto Project, valued at a total of $200,000, would include 43 municipalities and if the application is successful, it won’t cost the community a dime, according to a town memo.
However, if it’s not successful, and the town still goes ahead with it, it would cost about $5,500, according to Scott Chant, the town’s operations director.
"With successful application, the member group will acquire new, high-resolution orthophotography which is used in a multitude of applications,” a town request for decision said.
It said it would be useful for things such as updated municipal plans, emergency response planning, bylaw enforcement and economic development, as well as conservation and engineering projects.
“The last ortho photo we had was 2018. That might not sound like that long ago, but by the time you get to 2021, there’s (been) a lot of changes when you look at the Rotary Athletic Park and what’s developed in the southeast industrial area and things like that,” Chant told council.
“Planning and development, we use this on a daily basis. And through engineering for pipeworks and things like that, they use it on a regular basis.
“So it’s a very worthwhile cause and if we are successful in the grant dollars, we will be able to have that done and updated on the province’s dime instead of each municipality’s."
Coun. Mary Jane Harper asked what would happen if the grant application isn’t approved.
Chant said each community would have to be contacted to see if it wished to proceed with it in some way.
"If all participating members were agreeing to pay for it on their own, we’re looking at approximately $5,500, each municipality, to do this flight,” he said.
“Again, it’s economies of scale. If everybody’s in, it’s a lot cheaper than to do it on our own.”
