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New lodge nearing completion

Spring move anticipated
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An 80-room lodge, which will provide a new affordable housing option for seniors in Rimbey is nearing completion. Treena Mielke Photo

An 80-room lodge, which will provide a new affordable housing option for seniors in Rimbey, is nearing completion.

Construction of the lodge, now named Valley View Manor, should be completed by the end of the month and residents are to be moved in by spring.

More than $11.1 million for the project came from the governments of Canada and Alberta through the investment in the Affordable Housing Agreement.

The Province of Alberta provided an additional $2.1 million to the project through the social housing corporation.

The new lodge will include an on-site kitchen, dining areas and activity spaces as well as space for support services.

There are four stairwell exits from the second floor. Residents can be moved from one wing to another if there is a fire as there are firewalls. There is also a full sprinkler system, so the possibility of a fire is remote.

The cost of living in the new lodge will be based on income. Residents will be charged according to 30 per cent of their income, but fees will be capped at approximately $1,450 monthly. The cost per couple per month with a minimum income is $2,200.

There will be Internet access.

An addition of 500 metres of trail around the retention pond has been added. The Rimbey Lions Club has donated $43,000 towards the project.

The 70 by 40 metre pond is approximately five meters deep is designed to provide a holdback area so the town’s storm water systems are not overwhelmed.

A dry pond was initially earmarked to serve this function, but in order to provide for a more aesthetic feature a wet pond was designed that will have the potential for recreational fishing.

The new lodge will replace the 63-unit Parkland Manor which is currently occuped.

Rimoka’s CAO Peter Hall said no decision has been made regarding Parkland Manor.

“It is a government owned building,” he said.

While several ideas have been brought up as uses for the manor once it is vacated such as a new location for the town’s library, none have been finalized.

“There have been many ideas for repurposing,” Hall said. “There are no easy answers but we will continue to work on it.”