Gleichen residents hold out hope for hamlet revitalization

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

On Dec. 4, 2018, Wheatland County council passed a motion asking the Golden Hills School Division No. 75 to demolish the Central Bow Valley School in Gleichen.
Members of the community had hoped at least part of the school could be used to enhance and add to the community in some way. Sid Holt came before council on Jan. 11 to ask whether council would reconsider their decision.
“I have been meeting with an awful lot of people in the hamlet about what is necessary for the well-being of the community,” said Holt. “There is a need for something else for the community, something for the community to grow and become something. For the past number of years nothing has been presented. In the end, what I am saying is we would like to see a redevelopment of Gleichen and know where and what that would be like.”
He outlined a number of issues in the hamlet, such as aging homes, sliding house values, loitering and safety problems in the downtown, no businesses and unsafe, abandoned buildings. He also suggested a need to remove the liquor sales and work more closely with Siksika Nation on youth and addiction issues.
“If I was a young person looking for a house, I wouldn’t move there,” said Holt. “Other than the hotel, store and library, there is nothing downtown to be salvaged.”
Kim Telford was a mayor of Gleichen in the 1990s, before the village was dissolved and turned over to the county. In an interview, he said that cleanup measures were tried in the past. Gleichen council enforced taxes and encouraged residents to do cleanup and beautification measures, but most of the people in the community were not wealthy and the taxes didn’t generate enough money to do much.
Telford said getting an initiative supported, such as the restored water tower, took a lot of time and energy. He said they tried to open up a modern housing development on the east edge of town and while it flourished for a while, it hasn’t grown much since.
Telford said another factor for decline was closing the elevator, shifting that business to the larger facilities closer to Calgary. He visited Gleichen lately, as he still considers Gleichen home, and he was saddened by the conditions there.
“There is just nothing there anymore,” he said.
Holt remains optimistic Gleichen can grow and he gave some suggestions about economic development that could be done. He suggested removing unsafe buildings downtown, or moving the downtown core to a new growth area.
He asked Wheatland County council and administration for some help with Gleichen’s economic development, and he thinks preserving the school could be a venue to hold economic development opportunities. He gave some ideas such as a café, security business or college, further education facility, trades and computer lab, hair dresser, museum, community social programs or a business mall. He said there were a lot of grants and programs that could be tapped into. He asked for time to form a community group that could apply for the grants, anticipating it would take two years, during which time the school building could be leased.
Wheatland County council indicated they would like to see revitalization efforts spearheaded by local residents.
For its part, Wheatland County had the Central Bow Valley school assessed and deemed the building too expensive to upgrade. They said it would be cheaper to demolish the building and put up new buildings. Some council members stated that the county wasn’t in the business of being a landlord and wouldn’t support building a strip mall on the cleared lot.
Since the hamlet council was dissolved, the county has met Gleichen’s infrastructure needs and just recently supported events such as the Holiday Train stop, to showcase the town. Council said it also committed a large amount of money to restoration of the arena. The county does have an economic development committee that has hosted speaker sessions, but they haven’t yet worked with county communities, and the county does not have a dedicated economic development officer.
The request to have the school demolished still stands.