Lethbridge County council meeting briefs

Posted on June 21, 2023 by Sunny South News

By Erika Mathieu
Sunny South News

The following are selected briefs from the June 15 council meeting.

New CAO

Council welcomed the County’s new CAO for the first public meeting in council chambers. Council and administration welcomed Cole Beck who officially started with the County last week.

Beck said, “this is my fourth day day with Lethbridge County (…) and I am amazed with all of the high-functioning amazing people Lethbridge County has. I have had an opportunity to tour all of the great work that public works is doing and I am just really looking forward to working with each of you and the County as a whole and continuing the great work that has been done in the past.”

Department reports—Community Services disposal of land

Hilary Janzen, supervisor of planning presented a report pertaining to the disposal of a parcel of County-owned land in the River Brink Subdivision.

Janzen noted, “this particular parcel in question is located within the River Brink estates subdivision. When this subdivision was created there was a requirement to have a pond,” although it was not clear why this contingency was originally put in place.

In recent years, the County has examined all County-owned ponds as part of an assessment to determine municipal ownership is necessary and determine their function. The pond in question was determined to not have any municipal or infrastructural function, neither containing a storm water management component, nor functioning as a fire pond with associated hydrant. In discussions with the homeowner’s association, the County learned this particular pond is used solely by River Brink subdivision residents as a source for their potable water, and have even created a registered association with regards to the pond and its use.

Administration determined that this pond is not required by Lethbridge County for any specific purpose and could be disposed of and transferred to the River Brink Water Users Association, noting it, “only benefits residents of existing subdivision,” which could be more appropriately managed by the association and River Brink Estates residents.

Janzen noted the disposal of the approximately one acre pond would, “decrease the County’s liability with regard to anything associated with this pond.”

In order to, “protect the County’s interest,” and to ensure the association cannot sell the land as a developable parcel in the future, administration has begun the process of registering a restrictive covenant on the land title which would prevent this parcel from being anything other than a pond.

A motion to dispose of and transfer the pond to the association, was passed by council.

Bylaw 22-003: Road Closure, sale and consolidation

Council read Bylaw 22-003 for a second and third time. The application for road closure, sale, and consolidation first came forward one year ago. Following this, a public hearing was held in June 2022 without objections. Subsequently,  the County drafted and sent correspondence to Alberta’s Minister of Transportation.

The applicant/landowner owns both of the parcels on either side of the undeveloped road right of way located on a portion of Range Road 22-0, and submitted an application to close this portion of road and consolidate it with their adjacent titles.

Administration noted the approval was received, “a couple of weeks ago” and could move forward with consideration of second and third reading of the bylaw in order to finalize the road closure and to have the portion of undeveloped road right of way consolidated to the adjacent titles.

With respect to the intended use of road area, administration told council there is a gravel pit operation proposed within this area of which the landowners would like to have the ability to utilize the gravel deposits that are also located within the parcel, rather than having to jump over the undeveloped road right of way area.

County reaffirms commitment to McCain pipeline and requests new Cabinet fulfils funding promises:

Reeve Campbell said, “in discussion with CAO Beck, regarding the project to build a pipeline out to McCain, we thought it was important, given the recent election (…) to reaffirm our commitment to getting the project done, but also to emphasize our need for some help from the Province financially.”

Campbell said the intent of the agenda item was to seek support from council and administration to draft letters to send to the premier and various ministries and relevant MLAs in an effort to, “re-acquaint them with the matter and extend our request for financial assistance.”

Coun. Van Essen said, “I would like to see a bit of a more formal request with it than what we have done previously,” detailing what the County is looking for from the Province and suggested the request also be “cushioned with some inflationary adjustments,” and an overall more aggressive ask for funding supports from the Province.

Coun. VanderVeen suggested, “maybe, as a reminder, because some of the ministers have said in the past when we met with them that they would not leave us hanging there. That is really important that the new ministers are aware of the promises from previous ministers.”

A motion to draft formalized requests to the Premier and various Ministers and MLAs was passed.