County enters Rimoka land agreement
After a two-year wait, Ponoka County council has entered into an agreement to purchase the land for Rimbey’s proposed Rimoka senior residences.
“They’re now suddenly quite interested to move and get this agreement done,” said county CAO Charlie Cutforth.
Although it concerned Cutforth the agreement was accepted with the statement that the sellers, if development specifications weren’t properly met, could, at their discretion, transfer ownership of the land back to themselves and keep the county’s purchase price of $330,000 as liquid assets.
“We have strength in the perpetuity clause,” said Coun. Paul McLauchlin, referring to the time limit that was lifted stating development had to be underway within five years.
Before the land is signed over the county must complete swale and roadwork; small projects they aren’t concerned about.
“They’re prepared to execute it (agreement) immediately and then it’s a matter of the subdivision process,” said Cutforth.
Unsightly premises decision
The landowner in an unsightly premises conflict that came to head at the Sept. 3 council meeting is being given until mid-spring to tidy his land, “To organize, not necessarily remove it,” said Cutforth.
Albert Brown has a vast and disorganized assortment of Sea-Can trailers, farm machinery, vehicles, modular trailers, scrap metal and oilfield machinery on his property along Elkhorn Road.
Parts of the collection that can be seen from their own property disturb adjacent landowners Gary and Pascale Duff.
Councillors agree Brown’s land is an eyesore but much of that stems from the untidiness rather than the collection. Coun. Paul McLauchlin feels if better organized the collection would become part of the “scenescape.”
Cutforth says giving Brown an appropriate amount of time to tidy his land should produce result to the council’s liking and he hopes the action will also appease the Duffs.
Discharge of Firearms Bylaw amended
For the first time since its last amendment in 1993, the Discharge of Firearms by-law was amended to include more subdivisions of a high density or high concentration of residences.
Forty-two subdivisions were added to the bylaw’s list where firearms cannot be discharged, excluding members of the RCMP and those with the license and authority under the Department of Lands, Forestry and Wildlife of the Province of Alberta to hunt where problem wildlife are present.
The updated list of subdivisions will be posted on the county’s website, http://www.ponokacounty.com/Home.aspx.
Gull Lake boat launch causes damage
Until the concrete is repaired boat owners are being warned to use the county’s boat launch on the east side of Gull Lake at Raymond Shores at their own risk.
The north section of the launch is broken under the water, making it difficult to see. Recently a boat trailer hit the jagged concrete slab and sustained $1,100 in damages.
The county was aware of the break prior to the accident and was using barricades to warn people away. “Those barricades promptly went missing. They aren’t even just laying there, they’re missing,” said Cutforth.
“My recommendation is we pay this. We thought we’d addressed the problem but it wasn’t adequate,” he added.
The county’s insurance includes as $1,000 deductable.
Remains returning to Ponoka County
No formal proposal has been made but Ponoka County may see the return of the bones of 28 First Nations bodies to a closed cemetery on county land.
The bones, discovered in 1965, are stored at the University of Alberta, were found on three remnant, subdivided lots.
“We approved the subdivision, nice lots,” said assistant CAO Tom Webber. “In March of last year we received notification Her Majesty the Queen purchased them.”
A representative with Alberta Aboriginal Affairs has contacted Webber and another meeting was set for after Sept. 6 to further discuss the matter and how it could affect adjacent landowners.
“Not everybody is upset about this, they just want to know the scheme of this,” said Webber, referring to the extensiveness, layout and amenities of the cemetery.
CAO Charlie Cutforth wants county councillors to remain separate from all discussions for now because a rezoning application may have to be issued for the cemetery and he doesn’t want councillors to be biased.
“I think someone made an assumption of what our bylaw allows. Park space, recreation space is permitted use in CR (country residential) zoning but a cemetery isn’t,” said Webber.
Lagoon water transfer concerns
As Encana forges ahead with its plan to purchase and transfer water from Rimbey’s lagoon for fracking, landowners are becoming anxious.
“They’ve got a few of the locals riled up,” said Webber.
In conjunction with the fracking, Encana is building a 28-acre holding lagoon for the water, which has landowners and councillors talking about environmental safety and whether permits are needed.
“There’s been some concerns of the smell and groundwater safety,” said Webber. A synthetic liner is included in the lagoon development.
While the holding lagoon is unlicensed Ponoka County also doesn’t require farmers to purchase permits for their own lagoons, so long as they’re situated safe distances from other developments and roads.
The water is coming from the last stage of Rimbey’s lagoon and McLauchlin feels if Encana were to test the water they could prove it’s clean. “Unless they can prove it’s clean I consider it a sewage lagoon.”
“I’m sure Encana will comply but they’ll have to test the water before it leaves the town’s lagoon,” added Cutforth.
Encana’s lagoon will benefit both the Town of Rimbey and Ponoka County because they’ll no longer have to split the $600,000 outfall cost associated with the town’s lagoon.