Review staff:
Despite the fact that the seasons are changing and winter looms ever closer on the horizon, the building boom in Rimbey continues with ground being broken on two more sizable construction projects on the extreme west and east sides of the community with more planned in between.
On the east side of town work is progressing rapidly on a new sewage lagoon designed to accommodate an expected growth to residential properties in that area along with the northern edge of Rimbey while on the opposite side, ground work is nearing completion on a new hotel.
“The lagoon project is moving ahead,” said Rimbey Mayor Dale Barr. “We’re pleased to be working with Gabriel Construction; a great company to work with, and as usual with community expansion, there are new environmental standards to meet with what the Alberta government environmental department sets out for us and servicing the north side of Rimbey for expansion and development was the key goal in this project, so we’re very pleased that by the end of this year, we’ll have a license for all that development on the north side.”
The lagoon construction project carries a $3.8 million price tag however 60 percent of that project will be funded by the province.
As for the new west-end hotel development, Barr said it will be a welcome addition to the local business community and has contributed greatly to setting a new record amount for commercial development permits.
“That’s on the west side of town and that is for a 60-unit Best Western Hotel,” Barr said. “They’ve achieved development permit status to go ahead and build and that, in conjunction with the other projects going on, makes it the best year on record for commercial development in our community.”
The addition of the new hotel brings the grand total for 2008 to just over $12 million in commercial development permits – well above last year’s record amount of approximately $8 million and with three months still remaining in the year, the total could go even higher.
Barr said the numbers are very significant especially in light of the fact building permits throughout Alberta dropping especially in the province’s larger cities.
“Most impressive is that this is all coming at a time when Alberta building permits are either leveling off or are dropping considerably,” he said. “The only spike in the local building permits was the institutional year when the new hospital was approved which was $16 million on its own for the project as applied for. To balance the field though for permits, we always take that out of the model for comparing. We see that as a significant impact in one specific year.”
Approval for the project was received in 2005 and is not included because it falls outside of the total local permits based on the fact that it was fully funded by the provincial government.
Barr also touched on the new ethanol plant proposed for the west side of Rimbey to be constructed in close proximity to the Central Alberta Raceway and said it is now ready to seek approval from the province’s environmental department.
“The ethanol project is still working with the investor and the technology provider,” he said. “They’re doing due diligence right now on a pre-environmental application which is the next stage, and we expect to have that into the Alberta government approval agencies before the first of December.”
Another major construction job currently underway in Rimbey is a major expansion to the Kansas Ridge Estates in the community’s core area which has made significant progress in the past few months.
“That’s falling into our Senior’s Campus Program that we started a number of years ago. This is the second leg of it and it’s nice to see Brix Construction bringing that project forward,” Barr said. “We’ll still be working for the final stage of it which will be assisted living on the back (west) side. We’ll be working with government and individual corporations that can possibly take that project to completion.”
The facility is also expected to include an outdoor recreation facility in the middle of the complex and will also include a number of independent-living condominiums.
As for the construction year as a whole and the remaining three months of 2008, Barr it’s been a real feather in the hat for the community and those who have contributed to the local development and will be beneficial to all residents.
“I think it’s been a great year for Rimbey and the work that has been achieved through developers and/or new government funding that’s come forward to help with street improvements,” he said. “It’s a real positive step forward for our community and especially with the new developments of housing and commercial property - it helps cover basic core costs for our community. It’s great to achieve some of these plans or needs or wants that we looked at five and even ten years ago.”
As for the future, Barr said there’s a few more irons in the fire including several inquiries about other major developments in Rimbey, however nothing is official.
“There’s a couple that are in the initial discussion stages and we’ll continue to work with those potential investors to bring them forward and help our community to grow with jobs and the tax base,” he said.