Archived Springbrook and Area News
July 2008

July 24, 2008
Red Deer County Reveals Open Space and Trails Plan
At an open house yesterday, Red Deer County revealed an ambitious and visionary long-term plan for trails, parks and other open spaces to take advantage of the natural beauty of different areas of the county. It is part of the Open Spaces Master Plan that has been a process that started in 2005. Four of the seven project zones have been identified including the C & E Zone (a north-south central corridor connecting with other zones that includes the 3.6 km Penhold-Springbrook Trail, already approved), the CPR Zone (along the abandoned Alberta Central Railway corridor connecting Benalto, Sylvan Lake and Red Deer), the Ghost Pine Zone (an east-west corridor that links Penhold with Pine Lake and east), and the Medicine River Zone (a north-south corridor linking Gleniffer Lake with Spruce View and historic sites at Dickson and Markerville).
The Springbrook-Penhold Trail is planned to go through the natural area and wetland south of Airport Drive and then along Range Road 281. It will link with trails to be constructed at Penhold and Springbrook and become part of the Trans Canada Trail. The Springbrook section will be a separate project that will go through the municipal reserve next to the drainage ditch separating the former Mynarski Park from the recreation centre and Harvard Park. That trail will eventually link up with trails in the new subdivisions, future redevelopment and a north trail to Red Deer. Construction is expected to begin next spring. The Open Spaces Master Plan will go before county council by December.

July 23, 2008
Springbrook Infrastructure Rehabilitation Well Under Way
The first phase of replacing aging storm sewer, sanitary sewer and selected water pipes in the hamlet of Springbrook is well under way. The contractor, AIC Construction, was awarded the $1.6 million project in the spring. As much of the underground infrastructure was built by the military in 1953, there are no dependable drawings of the existing system which has resulted in finding lines where there should have been none and not finding lines where they should be. Meanwhile, Red Deer County council has approved the awarding of a $2.4 million contract to Pidherney's Trucking for phase 2 which is expected to get started in two weeks. Funding for phase 2 comes from a $2.5 million grant from Alberta Infrastructure. Last December, $6 million was received from the Canada-Alberta Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund toward the $11.5 million project expected to take place over the next couple of years.

July 22, 2008
Penhold Annexation Approval Makes History
The Town of Penhold has doubled its size as a result of provincial approval of the town's annexation bid announced yesterday. It marks the first time in the town's 104-year history that land has been added to the municipality. The addition of 790 acres, effective back to May 1, is expected to supply sufficient land for decades and provides the opportunity for the town of 2,000 to balance its land use as there has recently been a lack of industrial and commercial space available for development. The new land is primarily split between the north and south of the town. Much of it will be for residential development already in the planning stage. There is also an area on the east side that will include recreation and open space. The approval was one of three annexations from Red Deer County this month. The province also approved the addition of 1,531 acres to the town of Innisfail yesterday and on July 8 the addition of 247 acres to the town of Bowden. In the past year or so, there were also annexation approvals for Red Deer, Sylvan Lake, Delburne and Elnora, all of which has resulted in a reduced area controlled by the county and, to a lesser degree, its population.

July 10, 2008
This Year's Cadets Come From All Parts of Canada
The annual cadet camp in the Harvard Park area of Springbrook has attracted cadets from all parts of Canada this year including Iqaluit. For a six week period from early July to mid August, there are about 1,000 people at any given time involved with the cadet training, including about 750 cadets, 150 administrative and training staff and 100 contracted support staff mostly to provide meals. Some cadets are enrolled in two week programs while others are three weeks and some stay the entire six weeks.
Altogether, about 1,700 cadets go through training in one of several courses during the summer. Training programs include Air Cadet Basic Training, Leadership, Instruction, Physical Education and Recreation, Rifle Coaching, Power Flying, Basic Music and Advanced Music. Junior cadets, of which more than a third are female, are ages 12-15 while senior cadets are in the 16-18 age range.
The objectives of the various programs are to instill attributes of good citizenship and leadership in youth, promote physical fitness and stimulate interest in some of the activities of the Canadian Armed Forces. About 10% of the cadets pursue some form of military service. When the former Penhold base was decommissioned in 1995, the air cadet corps retained access to the former barracks and mess halls under a contract with Harvard Park Business Centre, which was recently renewed for seven years with an option for an additional three.

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