There was plenty of news to report in Drumheller and surrounding areas in 2022—from the return to normal after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, to major milestones and celebrations. This is Part 2 of our top 10 stories the Mail covered in 2022, in no particular order.
Changes in municipal administration, personnel, and by-elections
The faces on municipal councils changed in October 2021 following municipal elections and, for some municipalities in the Drumheller and surrounding area, the faces on their administrative teams and councils have changed over the last year.
The results of the Rockyford election were contested shortly after the election concluded as it was discovered an ineligible voter had been able to cast a ballot. Two candidates-April Geeraert and Kathleen Morin-had tied based on initial results, with Ms. Morin determined the winner following a tie-breaker; Ms. Geeraert challenged the results of the election in court, spurring a by-election in March. She ran against candidate Charlotte Bencharski, who had also run in the initial election, and Geeraert was the successful candidate.
Big Valley also was in a position to hold a by-election after Councillor Gail Knudson announced her resignation in early September; however, only one nomination was received at the end of nomination day, and former Mayor Clark German was acclaimed to the three person council.
Delia’s Deputy Mayor Melody Christofferson announced her resignation in November, and nominations for the vacant position on council are being accepted until January 17, 2023.
Along with changes in council, there were also changes to administration and other departments. Starland County announced in September that its Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Shirley Bremer would retire at the end of the calendar year; Ms. Bremer has spent the last three decades of her career at Starland County, and the last five as the municipality’s fifth CAO. Rockyford CAO Elaine MacDonald tendered her resignation in March and accepted the position of CAO for the Village of Big Valley; in May, Rockyford appointed Lori Miller as the new CAO. Hussar also was in a position to search for a new CAO after Kate Brandt tendered her resignation at the end of August. Administrative assistant Michelle Plante was appointed interim CAO until the position could be filled permanently; Elizabeth Santerre was appointed as the new CAO in November, and Ms. Plante continues to support her through the transition period.
There were some changes in command at the Drumheller Fire Department and Drumheller RCMP detachment. Drumheller Fire celebrated the retirement of Fire Chief Bruce Wade in September after 43 years of service to the community; at the end of August, the Town announced Derian Rosario had been hired as the department’s first full-time fire chief, and the sixth chief since the department was formed in 1919.
Drumheller RCMP detachment commander Staff Sergeant Ed Bourque announced his transfer to another detachment closer to his home in Morrinville in June; Corporal Alexander MacDonald stepped in as acting sergeant while a new detachment commander was sought. In mid-November, S/Sgt Rob Harms joined the Drumheller RCMP. He has served in other communities surrounding the Drumheller detachment area, including Three Hills and Stettler, and was very happy to be accepted to the position due to his familiarity and own personal connections with the area and community.
Town makes changes to flood mitigation project
There were many changes to Drumheller’s flood mitigation project over the last year to accommodate rising costs for project construction, and due to concerns and opposition from residents.
At the beginning of 2022, proposed changes to traffic flow along Riverside Drive between 5 Street East-known locally as Schumacher’s Corner-to 3 Avenue to accommodate the footprint of the downtown berm caused concern and opposition from residents. The proposed design would see the roadway partially or fully closed to traffic due to the necessary space required for the berm, and residents raised concerns about the possible unexpected and devastating impacts to emergency response times this would create. There were also concerns this closure would divert large recreational and commercial vehicles onto narrow residential streets. A public hearing was held in April for the proposed road closure bylaw, and Drumheller council heard plenty of opposition during this meeting; Drumheller Resiliency and Flood Mitigation Office (DRFMO) were then directed to look at alternate design options.
Shortly after the public hearing, council rejected tenders for the first phase of the downtown berm-extending from the Gordon Taylor Bridge to the Riverview Terrace condominium complex-due to rising costs which pushed bids above the approved $1.4 million project budget. Increased costs were partially due to economic pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the Alberta Government increasing the designed flow rate from 1,640 cubic metres per second (cm/s) to 1,850 cm/s. Drumheller Mayor Heather Colberg and CAO Darryl Drohomerski lobbied the provincial government in late May for additional funding support to help this, and other projects.
The Town awarded four berm projects in Midland, Newcastle, North Drumheller Grove Plaza, and Willow Estates in August. Ground broke on the Newcastle berm in late September, with former Alberta Minister of Environment and Parks Whitney Issik in attendance.
Over the Alberta Culture Days weekend in September, the Town held a chainsaw carving demonstration at the Downtown Plaza. Some of the trees which were removed from the berm construction areas were previously tagged by Community Advisory Committee (CAC) members in mid-March to be repurposed; while some of these trees were used for mulch, which was offered to the community, other trees were kept aside to be made into pieces of community art. Chainsaw carver Marina Cole of Chainsaw Spirit demonstrated her skills over the weekend, turning some of these trees into a dinosaur-shaped bench which is currency on display at the BCF. The Town is hoping to hold another carving demonstration in 2023.
Drumheller strikes deal with CN for trail project
Town of Drumheller struck a deal in early April with CN, one which had been in the works for many years, to secure a 25 year lease to use former rail right-of-way throughout the community. The deal will allow the Town to develop some 19 kilometres of trails which will run from Nacmine to Rosedale and Wayne at a cost of $1 per year for the duration of the lease agreement.
Current and former members of council and a representative from CN held a ribbon cutting ceremony in July at the start of the first portion of the project to be developed-a 1.5 kilometre stretch from the intersection of Highway 9 and Highway 56/10 near Boston Pizza to the intersection near Walmart at 19 Street-and paving on this segment began in September.
A fundraising task force comprised of passionate community members was established in September to help move the project forward faster; the task force set a goal to raise funds as quickly as possible, with the hope to complete the project in 2023. So far, three major sponsorships have been announced for the Midland Bridge, now Kohut Crossing, one of six stations, along with the Main Station at the edge of Downtown. The task force also managed to raise over $30,000 during a community Christmas fundraising dinner at the beginning of September.
Cleaning up the community
Drumheller has been busy cleaning up the community by taking care of some buildings which had become derelict over many years of disuse.
The Town announced in April 2021 it had purchased the former Drumheller Hospital on Riverside Drive, with the intention of demolishing it later in the year. In March 2022 the Town announced it had also purchased the former consortium building at the intersection of 5 Street East and 6 Avenue East. Demolition of both buildings, along with the former Nacmine Hotel and a residential property in Lehigh, was awarded to two contractors in July.
Asbestos abatement was completed before demolition could take place. Demolition began on the former consortium in August, with the Nacmine Hotel falling in September.
At the beginning of October, work began to tear down the old hospital and the old 500 wing of the Sunshine Lodge; the demolition of this wing is part of the planned demolition and construction project to better serve seniors in the community.
Demolition of the former Co-op grocery store and Greentree Mall began in late November. The Co-op grocery store closed in 2017, and the last tenants of the mall had vacated by the end of 2018; the building has remained vacant since due to the high estimated costs to repair the building. There are currently no plans for the property.
Large scale investments
Attracting large investors into a municipality can help expand the tax base, and there has been some interest by some larger investors to develop in some surrounding areas.
Wheatland County announced in 2021 it had passed a new tax incentive bylaw to attract larger investors and would allow eligible investments, both on new investments and expansions, to receive a 40 per cent exemption on municipal property taxes for non-residential improvements for three years. Development of a $210 million state-of-the-art wallboard manufacturing facility was announced in Wheatland County by CGC, a division of USG Corporation in July; the project is anticipated to start in 2023, and is estimated will bring some 200 construction jobs to the area during development, with over 100 full-time jobs once operational. The facility will be powered entirely by onsite solar power and is the first new wallboard plant in North America since 2007.
This was not the only big announcement for Wheatland County this year. De Havilland Aircraft of Canada announced in September it would develop an aircraft assembly facility, runway, parts manufacturing and distribution centers, and maintenance repair and overhaul centre in Wheatland County, between the communities of Chestermere and Strathmore. The development could see some 1,500 jobs added within Wheatland County; it is expected development will begin in 2024, with the building open in 2025.
Starland County also saw some big developments over the last year. Ground broke on the new, larger capacity Starland Seed Cleaning Plant in April, about two miles northwest of Delia on Highway 851; the new facility will replace the existing plant in Delia, which has been in operation since the 1960s, and will be able to accommodate larger, modern transportation vehicles with a possibility to expand into other value-added components such as cleaning grains for export. The organization hopes to have the new plant operational by March or April 2023.
Two renewable energy projects are also in development in Starland County. BluEarth Renewables broke ground in July on its 145 megawatt Hand Hills Wind Project, northeast of Drumheller, which is estimated to create some 175 jobs during peak construction and will provide some 68,000 homes annually with clean, renewable energy; the project is expected to be operational by early 2023. Along with this wind project, panels for the Michichi Solar Project north Drumheller were installed by Capstone Infrastructure in October. Capstone acquired the Michichi Solar Project and Kneehill Solar Project north of Three Hills in May 2021, which were formerly owned by Samsung Renewables. The project is expected to create more than 100 jobs during peak construction and inject $8 million in property tax revenues to Starland and Kneehill County over the operational life of the projects. These projects are expected to be fully operational by spring 2023 and will produce enough energy to power some 12,000 homes every year.
