County Council resumes Wheatland Lodge support discussions

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wheatland County council has resumed discussions regarding their potential support of the proposed Wheatland Lodge aiming to be constructed in Strathmore. 

County Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Brian Henderson presented a report to council during the April 18 regular meeting of council. 

“The purpose of this report is to summarize the historical information and presentations (to) the Wheatland Housing Management Board (WHMB), including presentations made directly to the Wheatland County council, intermunicipal groups and public that have occurred,” he said. “After publishing the (agenda) package, we did receive a few other letters of correspondence from the public, and we also received a ‘what we heard’ report from the engagement sessions that occurred throughout the communities.”

Council received five letters of support for the project, which were included in the agenda package for the meeting. The ‘what we heard’ report will be published by administration for council review in the next agenda package, which will be discussed May 2.

Henderson’s report also included a collection of information, referencing previous meetings of council and public engagement sessions dating back to 2019, when the idea for a new lodge was first being introduced. 

“Starting in 2019, there was a community presentation that was held at the Strathmore library. Once COVID-19 hit, that took a little bit of a hit for in-person engagement,” he said. “However, the (WHMB) did attempt to do some engagement, so they conducted some meetings virtually.” 

The WHMB hosted online community presentations and engagement sessions, as well as online public engagement meetings in October and November, 2020. These were followed by an additional series of meetings in May 2021.

Henderson added starting January, regular discussion surrounding the potential lodge picked back up again. 

On Jan. 17, there was an intermunicipal presentation at the Town of Strathmore. That was a hybrid meeting that the public had been invited to attend. 

“During that intermunicipal presentation … the WHMB did provide a draft letter of support for the municipality’s consideration,” he said.  “This letter was subsequently brought to Wheatland County council. It was provided to administration, Jan. 31 and was put into the Feb. 7 agenda package.”

At the request of the WHMB county representatives, the letter was withdrawn from the Feb. 7 meeting of county council and was not voted on.

WHMB did endeavor to take up some community engagement, hosting six sessions, which were detailed in the April 18 council agenda package, which occurred between March 27 to April 5.

“What makes this project so unique is there is both monetary and non-monetary contributions that are being proposed by the member municipalities,” said Henderson. “It is important to note that if county council does choose to support this project, it is advisable to formulate this agreement into writing. There is nothing that has been put into writing just yet.”

Council will have two more opportunities in May to discuss the issue before they must make a decision whether to approve their support of the project, before the June 1 deadline.