By Sheldon Spackman

McIntyre says 2018 a year of consultation in Sylvan Lake

Dec 26, 2018 | 7:16 AM

It was a busy year of consultation with residents for the Town of Sylvan Lake in 2018.

Mayor Sean McIntyre says a lot of large projects, including their Reimagine Sylvan initiative which aims to ultimately redevelop the community’s waterfront, required the consultation.

“That was for the Sustainable Waterfront Area Redevelopment Plan which helped create a 20-year vision for our downtown,” he explains. “We had a huge amount of public involvement in the development of that plan and now it’s going through council for second and third reading process and about to be implemented here in 2019.”

McIntyre stresses the importance of having a vision for the future of the community.

“We want ours to be a sustainable one with respect to business, with respect to the environment, with respect to accessibility and something that we know we can count on into the future of our community,” states McIntyre. “We wove all of those elements into the Reimagine Sylvan process and the Sustainable Waterfront Area Redevelopment Plan. We had extensive input from the residents in our community and it’s a plan that we can really all be proud of.”

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McIntyre adds however, there are a number of other initiatives to be excited about as well.

“We commenced a planning for the future of recreation in Sylvan Lake and that’s through the development of Pogadl Park and its concept designs,” says McIntyre. “This is another element that we had a lot of input from the public on, including user groups from minor sports and we’re really excited to start with phase 1 of the detailed planning for Pogadl Park in 2019. So this will be a field-based sports park in the southwest corner of Sylvan Lake and it’s named after the Pogadl family who donated 20 acres of land to make this whole concept possible.”

McIntyre says a new Municipal Sustainability Plan (MSP) was also adopted in 2018, describing it as a guiding document to help ensure decisions regarding sustainability are taken into account.

“The MSP as we call it includes a vision for sustainability,” he explains. “It’s supported by broad goals and objectives and a target set-out for each objective that challenges us over the next 10 years to make sure that we are thinking sustainably. We’ve already implemented some of the recommendations in there and we’re really excited to have an eye on sustainability as we move forward as a community.”

Other highlights from the past year according to McIntyre include completed street improvements along 48 Avenue near the NexSource Centre, taking possession of Sylvan Lake Provincial Park and its associated upgrades and enhancements and positive results from a Community Satisfaction survey.

He says those survey results this fall showed 97 per cent of Sylvan Lakers were satisfied the quality of life in the community was either ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

“Eighty two per cent of those surveyed, strongly agreed that they feel a sense of connection to community,” states McIntyre. ”Eighty five per cent indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with the services offered by The Town and 85 per cent indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of customer service provided by The Town.”

Looking ahead, McIntyre points-out the continued construction in 2019 of a regional wastewater line that runs along Highway 11A between Sylvan Lake and Red Deer.

He says the plan is for the line to be operational by early summer next year and the wastewater treated at the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Red Deer, saying it will ultimately help ensure area wastewater is treated responsibly and protect the City of Red Deer’s drinking water supply as well.

“This has been one of the biggest challenges that we’ve faced as a community as we have grown, is how to responsibly treat our wastewater,” he exclaims. “The lagoons in Sylvan Lake had reached their capacity and not only were we treating the wastewater for the Town of Sylvan Lake but also the municipalities that surround the lake. So in the Sylvan Lake Regional Wastewater Commission are the County of Red Deer, the County of Lacombe, all the five summer villages and the Town of Sylvan Lake.”

Other initiatives on the horizon for 2019 says McIntyre, include the rehabilitation of 50 Avenue, the development of a no-landfill disposal facility through Fogdog Energy Solutions Incorporated, a new festival and events strategy, further upgrades to Sylvan Lake Park and the implementation of Reimagine Sylvan – Sustainable Waterfront Area Redevelopment Plan.

With both federal and provincial elections to be held next year, McIntyre says Sylvan Lake and other municipalities will need to do everything within their jurisdiction to ensure their communities remain live-able places.

“So whether one government party is elected or another, our job remains the same,” says McIntyre. “That includes working with the provincial and federal governments to make sure that our communities are having their need met and regardless of what party is in power, we’ll continue to do that.”