Town says goodbye to a productive year

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

In contrast to Alberta’s economic downturn, numerous accomplishments and positive growth marked up the Town of Strathmore’s 2015 calendar, signaling a strong heart beat to march into a promising new year.
Praised as a stronger and more accomplished year than previous, the town noticed an increase in local businesses, tens of millions of dollars’ worth of building permits, and the completion of much-needed infrastructure upgrades.
“Overall it was a good year, quite a bit better than the last few years,” said Dwight Stanford, chief administrative officer for the Town of Strathmore. “For example, two, three, four years ago, we used to build new homes, and there might’ve been 20 or so. This year, we had 70 new single-family homes, plus we had quite a few multi-family. Some people said it’s been a slow year, but it was good for us.”
Strathmore had a total of 70 new single-family homes build last year, dealt out over $40 million in building permits around town, and added new subdivisions. However, the year also included the completion of roadwork to Lakeside Boulevard, and 4th Avenue – both significant projects in 2015. Pathways, specifically along George Freeman trail, also received paving facelifts, and a crosswalk was installed near Edgefield.
Movement was also noticed in the downtown and elsewhere in the community, where 38 new businesses opened their doors, including two new shoe stores, a sporting goods store, and a health food market and deli.
Furthermore, Stanford strongly commended all the hours spent on approving a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school site in Edgefield, the nearly $400,000 construction of the outdoor rink, an increase in doctors, hosting the Alberta 55+ Summer Games from which a sustainability committee was born, collaboration with H&H Huxted for their work on developing a Class 1 composting site and hiring consultants to bring forth a detailed fire study in February of 2016.
While the Strathmore and District Historical Society also became active, and the town leased 20 acres for the introduction of the Calgary Kart Racing Club, the town continues to work with the Western Irrigation District on storm water issues. However, Stanford acknowledged the financial hardships affecting many residents, and is aware it will impact the year to come.
“I personally think it’ll be a bit slower, because of the economy,” said Stanford. “We know there’s a big need for more recreation in the community, particularly ice surfaces, soccer and indoor soccer, and so on. So we’re going to work on those kind of things and see what we can do.”