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New bylaws discussed at open house

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There was a strong turnout last Thursday night, February 27 for an open house for discussion of two proposed Drumheller bylaws.

Mayor Heather Colberg said approximately 50 people came out to learn more about the Tourism Corridor bylaw and a new bylaw for tax incentives for non-residential vacant buildings.

“I never had any negativity. The comment I got was we are making the effort to clean it up,” said Colberg. “The only question I got is how are you going to go about doing this all at once?  The reality is, the goal is to do this over time and have people understand we are doing it for the right reasons.

She adds the tourism corridor bylaw was assisted in being drafted by a committee with members of the valley wanting to be a part of it.

The goal of the Tourism Corridor Bylaw is to make a concerted effort to keep the major tourism corridor in the valley looking pristine. This will be generally for businesses along Highway 9 to the Royal Tyrrell Museum and east to East Coulee. This will give the town more power to make sure properties are being maintained in a timely fashion. Colberg says the goal is not to be punitive.

“The intent is to work with the people. There is maybe even some volunteers that want to help with some of this work. It is not a case of the law being passed one day and then demands being made the next day. But some of these are ongoing and some of them are safety issues as well,” she said. “It is not about being hard, it’s about making things nicer and safer.”

The new tax incentive bylaw was also discussed. This bylaw is for existing non-vacant residential buildings. If a business is vacant for at least a year and the owner is able to attract business for a minimum of one year, they can apply for tax cancellation for the municipal portion of their assessment, up to $5,000, and be applied the following year.

“I had about four or five people come up with the bylaw in their hand saying ‘this is really going to help us,’” she said.

Both bylaws had first reading, and they are scheduled for second reading at the March 18 council meeting.


Scheduled power outage for East Coulee area today

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On Friday, March 5, electricity customers in the Lehigh, Cambria and East Coulee area will be without power to accommodate a high load move through the area.
    According to ATCO’s website, the area affected is east of Highway 56 to East Coulee and north to Little Fish Lake and is to affect 238 customers. The outage is scheduled between 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Approximately 10 customers in the Dorothy area from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. will also be affected.
    The is also a scheduled outage for residents north of Hussar on March 5 for a high load move. This outage will affect customers from approximately 8 a.m. to noon.
    For more information, residents can go to www.ATCO.com and under the electricity link to see maps of current and future outages. Residents can also download the My ATCO Electricity App to stay up to date and to report outages.

Two homes destroyed in blaze Sunday

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Two homes were destroyed and one badly damaged Sunday afternoon after fire tore through a south Bankview neighbourhood.
Emergency crews were called out to the blaze at approximately 4:30 p.m. March 3 on 1st Street West.
Neighbour Kerri Kuefler was arriving home when she smelled smoke in her car. Upon exiting she saw the fire at 1019 1st street.
“It happened so fast. It was good that I pulled up when I did because there was nobody out in the street,” she said.
She ran to her door and told people in her house to call 911. She then knocked on the door of the neighbouring house to alert them of the fire and to evacuate.
The Drumheller Fire Department, with support from the Rosedale Hall and Dalum, battled the blaze. Fire Chief Bruce Wade said about 25 firefighters were on scene. Firefighters fought the blaze in -15 degree Celsius weather, utilizing much of its apparatus, including its snorkel truck.
Alberta Health Service Ambulance was on site as well as RCMP. At this time there is no report of injuries.
“The firefighters were amazing. They were out there in the cold doing their thing, and boy were they good,” Keufler told the Mail Sunday.
Firefighters were able to get the blaze under control and were there Monday monitoring the site. The fire is still under investigation.
‘The cold weather did hinder firefighting efforts to some degree and it will hinder investigation to some degree,” said Wade.
At this point, it appears two of the homes were completely destroyed. Wade said a third home was damaged, however, the owners were allowed back in Sunday night. Power was shut off in the neighbourhood for a short time.

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photo courtesy Carrie Storms
Wade is grateful for the support from the community for the firefighters.
“Thanks to the businesses that brought food and hot coffee and the support from neighbours and Boston Pizza was really nice,” he said.

Pizza Hut and McDonald's also contributed.
For neighbours, it was a harrowing experience to watch the blaze.
It’s hard to watch someone’s house burn down,” said Kuefler.


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