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2022 was a good year for Bentley

CAO Marc Fortais looks forward to new projects
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File photo

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the Town of Bentley Marc Fortais said 2022 was a good year for Bentley.

“We’ve really focused on marketing the community and finding ways to get a bigger presence out for the community. Bentley is a hidden gem, or some people call it, the tool of the Blindman Valley,” said Fortais.

He said with the wayfinding signs they’ve put out on Highway 20 and 12, there has been over 5,900 vehicles per day driving past them.

“It’s just increasing our presence along that highway corridor to let people know that there’s great things here in the community.”

With boutique shopping, a central business community and a local farmers market, Fortais said they see people from all over the province come out.

One of the other things they’ve worked on this past year was the Medicine Lodge Ski Hill, which they worked in collaboration with the ski club that’s been there since the 1950s.

“We’re working on trying to develop a recreation master plan in partnership with them. We received some funding from Lacombe County, who are also an awesome partner in the things that we do here in Bentley.”

He added that they are hoping they’ll be able to award the RFP and engage the community and landowners around there to come up with some ideas in how they can diversify recreation opportunities at the Medicine Lodge Ski Hill.

Fortais said the other thing that they are working on is the Southeast Bentley Area Structure Plan and Looking at future commercial industrial opportunities and zoning to support investment within the community.

“We’ve had one public engagement thus far, and we’re working in collaboration again with Lacombe County, looking at a possible annexation of additional land to support industrial, commercial growth for the future of Bentley.”