Stopping the realignment

News

Posted 1 month ago

Kirsten Mundy

Standard Editor

It isn't often that a group of 57 people crowd into County Council Chambers to agree with council, but on July 20 just that happened when residents from Strathmore and Wheatland County petitioned council to help them stop the Highway 1 realignment.

"It's nice we're all on the same side here," said Reeve Ben Armstrong.

The proposal to move the highway a few miles south of Strathmore, and eventually realign it completely from Highway 24 to Gleichen, has been met with a lot of resistance since the plans were made available in November last year. The county made a request after the first open house last year that the highway remain in its present corridor, running through Strathmore.

In order to ensure that is done, Lust requested that everyone present do whatever they could, as quickly as possible.

"We must act before the open house in September," said Lust. "If we fail to act before that open house it will be too late."

To help, people have the opportunity to sign a petition at this year's Heritage Days. There will also be letters mailed to homes throughout the next few weeks, and Lust is hoping people will sign then, and send them to the Minister of Transportation, the company responsible for the study being done and other government officials.

"It is very important that when you get these you send them out," said Lust. "There has to be a united front."

That united front will be seen, ideally, on the desks of decision makers with hundreds of letters each week. The impact that will have, combined with phone calls, emails and any other way you can communicate your feelings about this, should make the difference Lust is hoping to see.

"If you can't get a 25 per cent return rate then we're doomed," said Lust.

A request for funding and other support from the county was made by the group of concerned citizens, and was met with consideration, as well as a promise to keep fighting for the cause.

"(The Minister of Transporation) has agreed to have a meeting with us," said County Councellor Ken Sauve. "He also said he would appreciate letters."

He went on to explain to the group that the changes aren't approved yet, and aren't set in stone. There is still time to stop it from by-passing Strathmore and with the right effort, it's very possible.

"Please don't lose any sleep over this," said Sauve. "Just remember, numbers count… It's definitely a necessity that we do this on a combined front. If we go unified I think we can do a good job of this."

Those numbers have been made very clear to the two municipal councils now, and it's a matter of making their united voice heard by provincial and federal governments.

This is the second time many of these residents came together to petition a group, they met with Strathmore Town Council earlier this month. This time, the group was a little more organized and a little more determined to stop this from going through.

"We could lose 30 per cent to 40 per cent of our workforce, which would be devastating to our local economy," said Hal Lust, owner of Strathmore Motor Products.

Presently, there are 87 businesses on the highway in Strathmore and they employ about 1,500 full time and part time employees. Lust said that's about 50 per cent of the workforce in Strathmore, and it puts in an estimated $2.8 million into the local economy each month.

"Development on the highway has fuelled our economy," said Lust. "Without it, Strathmore has no industry base to speak of… Real industrial development will come to Strathmore and the county but not while the location of the highway remains uncertain."

Lust explained that this development would destroy about 60 quarter sections of prime farmland. The alternative would be anything but, said Lust, who hopes that with today's technology there could be something done to ensure Strathmore keeps the highway in town, and that Wheatland County's request to keep it in the present corridor is honoured.

"This would save the tax payers millions of dollars," said Lust.

The cost to taxpayers, said Lust, would be so much more than just the cost of building the highway. Many businesses and farms will start to lose value immediately, and the possibility of sale will diminish more and more each year.

That uncertainty was reflected in concerns presented by Global Training Centre, which would be right in the way of the proposed highway changes, meaning they would likely have to shut down.

There will be a special Chamber of Commerce meeting on this subject August 17. Contact the Chamber at

403-901-3175