Wheatland County Community and Development Services department had a very productive year in 2022, receiving and processing a total of 273 development permits.
This was the busiest year the department has ever had, and the county is anticipating 2023 will be even busier as these projects move through the development approval process.
“Over the last two years we saw quite a dramatic increase in development permits. More than we’ve ever seen since 2007,” shared Community and Development Services manager Diane Bodie during the regular Tuesday, February 7 council meeting.
She explained this included 13 development permits for new commercial or industrial developments, and four permits for “major additions or expansions'' to existing businesses in these sectors. This included an addition of a public gym to a school, three restaurants and three cannabis stores, along with new housing and farm buildings for an area Hutterite colony, and a substantial increase in housing development in the Lakes of Muirfield.
There were also eight permits for home-based businesses.
Ms. Bodie noted these were not typical home-based businesses administration normally sees, such as accounting or tax based businesses, and included machine shops as a home-based business.
Planning and development are also working with De Havilland and CGC regarding their major projects which were announced earlier in 2022; both projects are “in the early stages” of the development permit process.

Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is investigating an officer involved shooting which took place in rural Wheatland County.
On Sunday, February 12, at approximately 2:15 p.m. Airdrie Rural RCMP received a call from Calgary Police Service to assist in locating a vehicle which had been driving erratically.
An RCMP officer located the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop, but the vehicle fled and the pursuit was terminated. A Calgary Police Service helicopter maintained visual contact with the suspect vehicle and advised that it was travelling at high speed, sometimes in the oncoming lanes.
An RCMP officer successfully deployed a tire deflation device, stopping the suspect vehicle near the intersection of Highway 564 and Range Road 245, near the hamlet of Nightingale, in Wheatland County.
The officer attempted to arrest the driver, who was the lone occupant.
An altercation occurred which resulted in the officer discharging their firearm. The driver, a 37-year-old female resident of Calgary, has been transported via STARS to a Calgary hospital with gunshot injuries. No officers were physically injured during this incident.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has taken over carriage of the investigation into the circumstances of the officer involved shooting.
Alberta RCMP believes in processes that seek the facts and it’s important that processes taken to assess the actions of all those involved, including the police, are fair, transparent, and defendable. This is why, as soon as we became aware of this incident, we immediately notified the Director of Law Enforcement and initiated our internal review process.
Independent of ASIRT’s investigation, the Alberta RCMP’s internal review process has been implemented to gather a full account of what took place during this incident. RCMP training, policy, police response, and the duty status of the members involved will be subject to review.

Update as of February 24, 2023:

As a result of an investigation by Southern Alberta District General Investigation Section into the incidents leading up to the officer involved shooting, charges have been pursued.

Kerry Jolene Funk, 37, a resident of Calgary, has been charged with the following offences: assault peace officer with a weapon; flight from peace officer; dangerous operation of a motor vehicle; possess a weapon for dangerous purpose; utter threats.

Funk has been released on conditions and will be appearing in provincial court in Airdrie on April 20, 2023.

As this matter is before the courts, no further information will be provided.