On Friday morning, Drumheller residents concerned with the flood mitigation projects in the valley learned that approved berm designs will not be released until after the municipal election in October.
The Facebook Page Drumheller Alert shared this information, stating, “A new Project Management team will start next month for the Resiliency and Flood Mitigation project. Then the election will follow. Berm designs will be released after the October 18 election. This will allow the newly elected Council to review and approve the plan to go forward.”
CAO Darryl Drohomerski tells the Mail, there are a few reasons why the designs will not release until after the election. He said Council will be appointing a new project management team later this month. This would put them in position as the province heads into municipal elections.
Drohomerski explains for a sitting government, it is common practice to not make large announcements during an election cycle.
“We didn’t want to make it an election issue because you wouldn’t want to give a candidate an unfair advantage by having them unveil a design none of the competitors could have too,” he said. “You don’t want to give preferential treatment to any existing elected official who could use it as a platform for their candidacy.”
He also adds the berm designs are not complete, and positioning the announcement in the fall will allow the mitigation team to make sure they are complete.
“There are a couple that are close to being ready to submit to the province for their own licensing, and then getting closer to be able to develop tender documents,” he said.
They are also cognizant they need to talk to affected landowners before they are made public.
“We’re not going to release a design, even if it is a wireframe design that shows the general location of the berm until we actually talk to the property owners they impact,” he said.
He also notes, because it is a multi-year project, they will be releasing designs in a phased approach.
“We can’t do all of this work in one year. So we have what we think is a good plan to do work in 2022, 2023, and 2024. We are concentrating on the properties and designs that are slated for 2022,” he said
The Town has a community engagement event coming up on August 10. He explains this is to lay out the basics of the project and the need for flood mitigation.
“One of the things we have recognized is people really need to know the basic of understanding of what we are doing, and why we are doing it,” he said.

Wheatland County council has set a public hearing date for a proposed redesignation of some 471 acres from Agriculture General to Energy District for a new wind project following a presentation during the regular Tuesday, July 6 council meeting.
The project, which will be located approximately 20 to 30 kilometres southeast of Drumheller, will require portions of a total of 19 quarter sections to be redesignated.
According to the presentation, the project received approval from the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) in September 2018 and has already undergone assessments for environmental and noise impacts, which have all been found within allowable parameters.
A total of 24 wind turbines are expected to be installed, as well as a substation, and operations and maintenance facilities.
First reading to redesignate portions of the 19 quarter sections was moved by Division 7 Councillor Ben Armstrong and carried unanimously.
Division 6 Councillor Glenn Koester moved to schedule the public hearing for Tuesday, August 24; this was carried unanimously.
While Wheatland County will hold a public hearing regarding the redesignation, they will also hold a separate public hearing two weeks later to repeal the Energy District designation from their existing Land Use Bylaw according to a request for decision.
Administrative staff began the process to remove the Energy District following the Tuesday, April 20 regular council meeting due to inconsistencies which have caused confusion for landowners.
The current designation also does not allow for agricultural use within the Energy District, although these uses would otherwise be compatible with wind and solar projects.
The proposed repeal would also give the county the opportunity to play a more active role in wind and solar project decisions.