Council supportive of Vision 2030

Town council recently expressed its support for the proposed Vision 2030.

Officials discussed the matter at its Jan. 18 meeting following a report on public engagement sessions that was presented by Jon Allan. Click here for that story.

Coun. Myron Thompson called the report "excellent" and said its pages should be in every household in the area.

However, the vision could go "absolutely haywire if we had a major flood. Not if, when we have a major flood. There's no talking 'if' anymore, it's 'when'."

Coming up with a vision for the future gets people involved, he said, adding he would like to see the proposed Vision 2030 in the hands of as many people as possible.

Allan agreed, but said the next steps are still being worked on and that lots of research remains to be done.

"We have to come up with a proper action plan," he said.

"An action plan will require money — we have to prepare infrastructure, we have to put money aside, we have to make sure that it's addressed. If we want to see it happen, it's not like it's going to be free. If you do want to see this big vision, it's going to be bold and you have to take risks, but I hope that you guys are willing to."

Thompson said the number of people to stop by the Visitor Information Centre in January was 33, of which 27 specifically came to Sundre because they wanted to cross-country ski on local trails.

"The trails are bringing them in," he said, adding people are coming from the Calgary and Red Deer regions, as well as Didsbury, Carstairs and Olds.

Coun. Verna McFadden agreed the vision is looking in the right direction, but wondered whether it could be brought before the student union to get youth input into the plan.

"That's a wonderful idea," said Allan, adding that during one of the public consultation sessions, someone had talked about the idea of building up a community of leaders.

"You've got a leader here, you've got a leader there. But when they burn out, what do you have left?" asked Allan.

"You want an entire community to be full of leaders."

The way to achieve that is to get students involved and find a way to get youth to buy into the vision so over the next 15 years, as they become adults, they'll want to be part of the community and continue to live here to make the vision a reality, he said.

"We have to really get buy-in from the community. The community has to champion this vision — we have to adopt this identity. And one of the best ways to do that would be through youth engagement."

Coun. Jodi Orr said she was pleased with the number of responses gathered through the online survey.

"Sixty-six responses I think is very good. It tells you what people are thinking," she said, praising Allan for his work on the report.

Coun. Chris Vardas, who chaired the meeting in Mayor Terry Leslie's absence, agreed the Vision 2030 "is excellent. I totally support it."

But the one thing he'd like to see when the town puts a survey out is more responses from the public.

"When we're making decisions like this, it involves the whole community," he said.

"Something like this, you got to get as much exposure as possible out there."

If there isn't enough exposure for such initiatives, then some residents will not be sufficiently educated about what town officials are planning and so might be against such plans, he said.

Angie Lucas, director of planning and operational services, said the next steps would include further engagement with the community.

"You have to have a full public open house on this," she said. "So we will be making a real big deal about this, because I want to know what percentage of this community is really going to adopt this, because this is quite a significant change in direction for the Town of Sundre."

The best part of the vision, said Vardas, is that it is not dependent on one or two industries.

"This is an economic drive for the whole community — doesn't matter what business you're in," he said.