An Integrated Development Strategy to address the Highway 3 corridor between Lethbridge and Coaldale could help identify new opportunities for dealing with stormwater.
The County of Lethbridge and the Town of Coaldale are partners in the in the development of the IDS and both municipal councils have recently reviewed the final report.
While Coaldale's council did raise some concerns, and opted to table the report until a future council meeting, County council adopted the final report in January as a strategic document to guide policy and program development for the Highway 3 corridor between the city and the town.
Deputy Reeve Henry Doeve, who chaired the steering committee made up of representatives from both municipal councils, said one of the items to come out of the strategy that he had not expected was a change in the philosophical approach to stormwater.
"Seeing it as an opportunity rather than a liability."
Stormwater retention has been an issue whenever development within the corridor has come before County council. The strategy identifies stormwater management as a "dominant unifying component of the IDS". Key elements of stormwater management proposed in the IDS call for the creation of wetlands for storage, integration of stormwater facilities with water treatment systems for commercial and industrial uses and installation of a force main from north of Coaldale to the Oldman River to allow discharge in years when precipitation cannot be stored.
According to the final report the way stormwater is handled in the Highway 3 corridor will "influence land use, transportation, economic development, and water and wastewater servicing".
Doeve said another big plus he sees in the report is a pathway system between Coaldale and the City of Lethbridge, linking into the current pathway system already in place in the city. It is proposed to be a multi-use pathway for pedestrians and cyclists.
"That really provides a measurable benefit to the public," said Doeve.
In addition to stormwater management and the pathway system the report also addresses land use, economic development, transportation, water supply and wastewater treatment, open space planning and architectural form and character for developments in the corridor.
Doeve said the IDS is a tool for council and a guiding principle for future development in the corridor between the city and Coaldale. He sees it as a means for focusing development in the corridor and also serving as a backup document for the County's Municipal Development Plan.
The County adopted a new MDP in 2010 and he said adoption of the IDS final report will likely lead to future amendments to the MDP.
Doeve said one of the surprises in development of the IDS was the fact that a document of this size was completed in 18 months.
"We were able to maintain the energy all the way through."
He was also impressed that the two jurisdictions could co-operate on a plan of this magnitude and cost. Work on the IDS began in mid-2010 and was initiated by the County and Coaldale.
Funds remaining from the intermunicipal development project between the two municipalities of $40,000 were leveraged to obtain a $450,000 grant from the Alberta government's Rural Community Adaption Program.
The focus of the project and development of the IDS was to study the potential for economic development of the Highway 3 corridor and to address stormwater management issues.