Medicine Hat Minute: Highway Twinning, Animal Bylaws, and Record Low Construction

Medicine Hat Minute: Highway Twinning, Animal Bylaws, and Record Low Construction

 

Medicine Hat Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Medicine Hat politics

 

This Week In Medicine Hat:

  • There will be a meeting of City Council this afternoon, beginning with a closed session at 3:45 pm. The agenda for the closed session includes government relations priorities, the 2023 Community Spirit Awards, the City Manager Performance Appraisal and Development Plan, and a personnel matter. The meeting opens up to the public at 6:30 pm. During the public session, Council will receive a presentation about the cost of utilities in condominium and multi-resident buildings before giving second and third readings to the Urban Wildlife Management Bylaw and amendments to the Responsible Animal Ownership Bylaw. Also on the agenda is a plan to approve a capital budget amendment in order to adopt a food waste composting piloting project.

  • The Municipal Planning Commission will meet on Wednesday at 2:30 pm. No agenda is available for this meeting yet.

  • The Corporate Services Committee will meet on Thursday at 4:30 pm. No agenda available for this meeting yet, either.

 

Last Week In Medicine Hat:

  • City data showed that this year could be one of the slowest on record for new home builds. At six months into the year, only eight new home permits were processed. There were only two permits for duplexes, and no applications were received for tri-plexes or apartments. In 2022, permits for 38 homes,14 duplexes, 5 tri-plexes, and 12 apartment projects were approved. BILD Medicine Hat, formerly known as the Canadian Homebuilders Association, says that construction workers are still busy with renovations and replacement of low-priced homes in established neighbourhoods.

  • Despite the Alberta NDP’s bizarre public call-out of the Mayors of Edmonton and Calgary demanding that they oppose the Province’s pause on renewable energy projects, the City of Medicine Hat has refused to take a position. Councillor Alison Van Dyke said that the City “is unaffected by this decision as our power generation is natural gas based”. Nearby Cypress County, however, applauded the move, fearing that too much land was being taken out of agricultural production for wind and solar farm projects.

  • The Province said the twinning of Highway 3 is still on track for completion by 2025, though it is unlikely major work will begin this year. Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, said that the Province is accepting bids for the 46-kilometre portion and could award a contract in late September. The 15-kilometre Seven Persons to Medicine Hat phase is third on the list of priority sections, behind the ongoing Taber-Burdett phase and a bypass at Coleman in the Crowsnest Pass.

 

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