VLTs, LED lights, and population: Coaldale report

By Stan Ashbee
Sunny South News

Coaldale’s 2016 construction development summary numbers were presented to the Coaldale and District Chamber of Commerce by Town of Coaldale Coun. Jack Van Rijn at a meeting held last Wednesday, during his town report.
“We had a total of 40 new homes built in 2016, totalling just a little over $11 million. We had 48 residential additions and renovations, totalling $716,000. There were 12 new mobile homes brought into Coaldale for a total of $2.3 million and we had one multi-family unit constructed for a value of $300,000,” Van Rijn noted.
In Coaldale’s industrial park, Van Rijn added, the town had $1.9 million in construction and commercial construction in Coaldale amounted to $4.5 million in total.
“Add all those together — we had a total development of $21,215,000 and change for 2016,” he said.
Although the town issued 185 development permits in 2016, which was one more than in 2015, the town dropped in new dwelling construction from 71 to 58, according to the councillor.
“As of December 2016, there were a total of 135 single-family lots still available in Coaldale, as well as 38 mobile home lots,” said Van Rijn.
Coaldale town council, Van Rijn explained, was presented with VLTs survey results at council’s Jan. 10 meeting.
“Administration engaged a professional polling firm to investigate the community of Coaldale’s opinion on the re-introduction of VLTs into Coaldale,” he said. The polling firm obtained by the town surveyed a random sample of 710 Coaldale residents by live telephone interviews — through a mixture of landlines and cellphones.
In response to the survey results, Van Rijn continued, a motion was made and passed at the Jan. 23 council meeting to direct administration to draft a bylaw and present it to council at its Feb. 13 meeting.
“If a first reading is passed at that meeting, a public hearing would be scheduled for Feb. 27, at which time second and third readings would be considered,” he said, adding if the second and third readings are passed, the bylaw would allow the return of VLTs to Coaldale.
At the Jan. 10 council meeting, Van Rijn said, a motion was made and passed to direct administration to instruct Fortis Alberta to devise and implement an LED conversion solution for Coaldale.
“Although we will be looking at an increase of approximately 10 per cent to the distribution charge for the installation, the reduced energy consumption of the LED fixtures would be reflected in the transmission and retailer energy portions of the town’s electricity bill,” he said.
As part of the process, Van Rijn added, the town will also be doing an audit of the existing streetlight locations, as well as the areas lacking proper lighting to ensure additional LED lights will be installed where required.
Census Canada has released population statistics for Coaldale, Van Rijn told those in attendance at the chamber meeting.
“It shows we have a population increase of 9.6 per cent, which equates to 8,215 residents. Up from 7,493 in 2011,” he pointed out.

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