ECA Review - 2024-03-14

ECA REVIEW HANNA/CORONATION/STETTLER, AB March 14'24 3
VILLAGE OF ALIX COUNCIL
Happy with get-together on lake health
Stu Salkeld
Local Journalism Initiative reporter
ECA Review
Alix village council is happy with
the results of a public meeting held to
discuss efforts to improve the condition
and health of the community’s
popular namesake waterbody.
A verbal report about the Alix Lake
open house was made at the March 6
regular meeting of council.
Village Chief Administrative Officer
(CAO) Michelle White gave a verbal
report about the public get-together
held last month to discuss work
planned within Alix Lake; the meeting
was held at the community hall.
Councillors decided several months
ago to hold an information night to
update the public on projects involving
the village’s waterbody, specifically
dredging of the lake with the goal of
eventually making it suitable for fish
stocking.
White stated that 56 people attended
the open house, and she suspected not
all may have been Village of Alix
residents.
Owing to the popular regional
nature of Alix Lake, the CAO stated
she thought some of the guests were
likely county residents.
Mayor Rob Fehr stated he had
already heard positive feedback about
the information night from 12 or 13
people, with the CAO noting the Alix
nature trail group, which had an information
booth set-up at the info night,
also had a successful outing.
Additionally, the Alix Chamber of
Commerce took the opportunity to set
up a booth and speak to guests about
local shopping habits; the chamber
asked guests to fill out a survey on the
topic and White reported 41 were
returned the same night.
The CAO noted the chamber of commerce
survey is ongoing with the
understanding the survey remains
available for interested residents.
The CAO observed this opportunity
for citizen engagement appeared to be
warmly received, as over 60 questions
were submitted by the public before
the event; while White noted some of
the guests wanted a question and
answer style session, not all of the
experts were able to attend and organizers
felt it was better to answer the
questions beforehand to ensure
everyone got a response that night.
As councillors discussed the information
night, they seemed to agree it
was well-received by the public and the
public appeared to have all of their
questions answered.
Councillors also discussed the
wealth of information available at the
information night, much of it revealing
projects such as the dredging won’t be
as detrimental to the lake habitat as
the public might fear.
Alix Wagon Wheel Museum
anniversary approaching
Submitted by Elaine Meehan
There will be a celebration of the
50th anniversary on June 8, 2024 of the
founding of the Alix Wagon Wheel
Museum which started in 1974 as a
collection gathered and stored by a
group of local citizens in the basement
of the Drop-In Centre building.
We are also celebrating the installation
of a touch screen and creation of
permanent narratives, pictures, etc.
We started this project with the
United Farmers of Alberta (UFA)
which has extensive archives. UFA
was a political party in Alberta and
Irene Parlby of the Famous Five/
Persons Case was the Minister
Without Portfolio in Alberta’s provincial
government.
Irene was an early settler in Alix
and our museum has many artifacts
and much information about this.
We also have many family histories,
art by local artists, schools, churches,
taxidermied birds and beaver, First
Nations section, clothing collection,
pioneer kitchen; toy collection; sports
history; tools section; creamery history
(Alix was the starting place of
Alpha); history of war times in two
world wars and the Boer war; history
of clubs and organizations, etc. We
have many photos, documents and
narratives.
The museum now has murals on the
front of what was formerly a pool hall
with living quarters at the back.
We celebrated the 40th anniversary
in 2014 with a strawberry tea and
program and we hope to have many of
the people who attended it will be with
us to see the remarkable change and
growth.
Little League
Picnic
Picnic (Weekend Tournament)
Sat & Sun., May 25-26
Burma Park
Contact Adam (403) 575-7664
To register your team • ALL AGES
PORTABLE OXYGEN
FOR YOUR ON-THE-GO
LIFESTYLE
Call us toll-free at
1-833-755-1668
Display in the Village of
Alix council chambers
that was available at the
lake information night.
ECA Review/S.Salkeld
The mayor noted some of the work
will actually enhance wildlife habitat.
Coun. Tim Besuijen stated the
dredging is also expected to improve
the lake’s water quality.
The CAO confirmed dredging will
remove decomposed vegetation from
the lake bottom and suggested this
vegetation may have been a problem
when it was stirred up by lake-users or
other causes.
Mayor Fehr confirmed there were a
CLAIM YOUR
14-DAY
RISK-FREE
TRIAL 1
1 14-day risk-free trial- Return within 30 days of
purchase for a full refund of purchase price.
PM230469 EN_EX_USA
Rx Only. © 2023 Inogen, Inc.
301 Coromar Drive, Goleta, CA 93117
Inogen® is a trademark of Inogen,
Inc. The usage of any Inogen, Inc.
trademark is strictly forbidden without
the prior consent of Inogen, Inc. All
other trademarks are trademarks of
their respective owners or holders.
few people in attendance who didn’t
seem happy with the lake project.
Councillors also discussed the effect
dredging will have on Alix Lake’s
depth, especially as it pertained to vessels;
the CAO noted that Alix Lake at
its deepest point is about 9.6 feet and
the dredging won’t have a noticeable
effect on that.
PUBLIC NOTICE
Village of Alix
WATER ACT
NOTICE OF APPLICATION
Notice is given that Village of Alix
has filed an application under the
provisions of the Water Act for an
Approval to undertake the dredging
and aquatic vegetation removal at
Alix Lake located at NE-26-039-23-W4,
NE-35-039-23-W4, SE-35-039-23-W4 and
SW-36-039-23-W4.
Any person who is directly affected by
this application may submit a Statement
of Concern within 14 days of the date of
this notice.
To submit a Statement of Concern, sign
into the Digital Regulatory Assurance
System (DRAS) using a Alberta.ca
or MyAlberta Digital ID for Business
(MADI-B) account.
• DRAS webpage - https://www.alberta.
ca/digital-regulatory-assurance-system.
aspx
• To sign up for a Alberta.ca or
MADI-B account see the How to Create
an Alberta.ca Account or How to Create
a MADI-B Account to Access DRAS
knowledge article on the above DRAS
webpage.
Alternatively, you may submit a written
Statement of Concern to Environment
and Protected Areas, Approvals Unit,
5th Floor, South Petroleum Plaza, 9915
108 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2G8.
The written statement of concern
should include the following:
• Quote the Case number: DAPP0053695
• Describe concerns that are relevant to
matters regulated by the Water Act
• Explain how the filer of the concern
will be directly affected by the activity
and/or diversion of water proposed in
the application
• Provide the legal land location of the
land owned or used by the filer where
the concerns described are believed to
be applicable
• State the distance between the land
owned or used by the filer and the site
in the application
• Contact information including the full
name and mailing address of the filer.
Please provide the telephone number
and email address for ease of contact.
Environment and Protected Areas
will review each written Statement
of Concern, seek more information if
needed, and notify each filer by letter
of the decision to accept or reject their
written submission as a valid Statement
of Concern.
Statements of Concern submitted
regarding this application are public
records which are accessible by the
public and the applicant. Failure to file
a Statement of Concern may affect the
right to file a Notice of Appeal with the
Environmental Appeals Board.
Copies of the application and additional
information can be obtained from:
Michelle White
Village of Alix
PO Box 87, Alix, AB T0C 0B0
Phone: 403-747-2495
Email: cao@villageofalix.ca