Archived Springbrook and Area News
February 2010

Feb. 26, 2010
Street Signs Change, New Entrance Sign Coming
Red Deer County has already changed the street signs in Springbrook using an aircraft theme and a new entrance sign is on the way. The tender for constructing the sign has been advertised and the county plans to send out a survey to get some feedback on community identity for the sign.
Rec Centre For Sale, Store and Restaurant Close
When Trinidad Drilling purchased the former recreation centre as an oilpatch training facility a few years ago, the economy was booming and there was high demand for preparing potential workers for employment in the industry. When the economy slowed down, Trinidad Training and Fitness faced a double whammy. Not only was there no demand to train workers, discretionary income reduced dramatically so fewer people in the community were taking advantage of the recreation and fitness opportunity. As a result, the company has put the facility up for sale.
Meanwhile, the pub and restaurant closed recently, as did the convenience store until further notice. The only part of the facility still functioning is the community centre occupying the former theatre.

Feb. 19, 2010
Airport Reports Increase in Passenger Traffic
The Red Deer Regional Airport reports that 170 passengers flew out of the airport in January  compared to only 90 a year earlier, a number that is closer to pre-recession levels. The reduced number of passengers in 2009 were barely sufficient to qualify the airport for future funding of capital projects. This year, the airport is applying for $6 million for capital improvements including runway paving, lighting upgrades and an addition to the maintenance building. In 2009, $750,000 in funding was provided for a new plow truck, sweeper and snow blower which have all been received.

Feb. 18, 2010
Central Alberta Historical Society Learns About Historic and Future Trails
Paul Pettypiece of Springbrook made a presentation to the Central Alberta Historical Society yesterday on the history and future of trails in Central Alberta. From ancient north-south corridors, he showed how the fur trade influenced east-west transportation and the development of early communities. He continued with how the arrival of the railway in Calgary created special significance for the historic Calgary-Edmonton Trail just west of Springbrook. He also talked about the progress of the Trans Canada Trail between Ponoka and Penhold and introduced the Forth Junction Project concept, a proposed major two-venue tourism and community attractor that will celebrate trail, train and transit transportation systems from ancient times into the future.

Feb. 9, 2010
Air Spray Seeing More and Larger Forest Fires
Officials at Air Spray Aviation Services, an air tanker forest fire suppression company based at the Red Deer Regional Airport, are reporting that there has been a slow average growth of about 10% in both the number of fires and the size of fires, especially in British Columbia, that they believe is due to climate change. On average about 2 million hectares of forest go up in flames in Canada each year, almost double the amount in the 1980s. The fire fighting season has also grown dramatically at around 150 days from 120 days a few years ago as a result of the weather getting warmer in the spring, staying warmer later in the year and less precipitation.

Feb. 4, 2010
Major Attraction Proposed for Red Deer County
The Forth Junction Heritage Society is proposing a railway station heritage and family nature park connected to a future trail system south or west of the city. The railway station park would consist of replicated railway stations that were once the centres of several Central Alberta communities and would be rented out as accommodation or other uses. Some could be bed and breakfasts. In addition the railway theme would continue with miniature train rides for kids, restored railway equipment, some kind of lookout tower and a replication of a railway garden park.
Connections would be made with the future river park system, the city trail system and an interpretation centre celebrating the history of the Mintlaw trestle and the Alberta Central Railway. The park would be one of four unique features of a larger project that would include a retail-entertainment-heritage centre in downtown Red Deer, a replication of a famous steam locomotive that once served the Calgary-Edmonton corridor and Canada's largest historical model railway museum.


Feb. 3, 2010
Summer Lawn Watering Restricted
Red Deer County council has approved a water conservation policy that includes restricting summer lawn watering in hamlets including Springbrook to before noon and after 7 pm only. In addition, only odd-numbered houses will be permitted to water on odd-numbered days and vice versa. Although the county is taking an educational approach to conserving water as a limited resource, the policy does allow for fines ranging from $50 for first offence to $200 for third and subsequent offences.
Red Deer County Heritage Plan Approved
Red Deer County is being credited with being the first rural municipality in Alberta to approve a detailed heritage management plan designed to identify, preserve and protect historical buildings and sites throughout the county. During the process, 88 potential historic sites were surveyed and 27 have been included in an initial inventory. Recently the county agreed to purchase the Mintlaw railway trestle as a future historic resource. The province has already designated a number of sites as historic, including Markerville Creamery, the Stephansson House and the Dickson Store. The report recommends that a heritage advisory board and heritage officer be created. It also suggests that historical zones could be developed.

Current News    Summary of Headlines
 

 

a celebration of the Red Deer region as a major distribution and transit centre in the economic development of Central Alberta

a bold vision
for 2 multi-venue visitor magnets
for the Red Deer area with
4 unique attractions
 
The Forth Junction Project
 

and Red Deer Region







* * *







Place your ad
on this page
or any page on this site
for as little as
$3.50 per month
phone 403-886-2640
or email:
paul@abundancenet.com
 
Rates