Drumheller is bursting with history. In an effort to preserve it, the Town of Drumheller will soon be introducing a bylaw which would allow the designation of heritage resources.
It is hoped the first draft of the bylaw will be ready for review by the end of November.
“What we would want to do is have a draft bylaw for council to review in the weeks ahead, so we can begin the process of identifying properties the task force can review. My goal was to having something to review by the end of November,” said Paul Salvatore, Director of Community Services, in the meeting of Town Council on Monday.
To develop a bylaw suitable for Drumheller, other communities were consulted, especially Banff, Medicine Hat, and the municipal district of Big Horn.
The bylaw is part of the Town’s heritage resource management plan and would allow the Town to designate properties or structures as being heritage resources.
The designation would allow the owners of those properties to seek grant money from the Provincial Heritage Resource Foundation to restore and maintain their properties.
“We would hope to entice business owners to improve the properties they occupy or if they are unoccupied, make those properties more marketable,” said Salvatore.
The program is a volunteer program and property owners can apply to receive $50,000 from a lottery based grant or a one time $5,000 grant, which could be used to help preserve the building.
The proposed bylaw is part of a process that began with the Heritage Inventory Project last year. Through a grant from the Alberta Historic Resource Fund and contributions from the Town of Drumheller, the Drumheller & District Chamber of Commerce, and Community Futures Big Country, Donald Luxton and Associates were brought in to perform the inventory.
Donald Luxton and Associates and the Heritage Steering Committee worked to identify the historically significant sites in Drumheller. In the end, 50 properties and structures were identified.
“Those properties identified in the Heritage Inventory would be perfect candidates for moving forward with a heritage designation bylaw,” said Salvatore.
The list includes sites such as the Atlas Coal Mine, East Coulee School Museum, Midland Train Bridge, Jesus Statue, and Dinny the Dinosaur.
Any site that is designated would receive a plaque or some other form of recognition for their status.
The timing of the bylaw, for some, could not be better.
“It’s quite interesting, with our coming centennial, how much you learn about the community by looking at the history of our buildings,” observed Councillor Tom Zariski. “It’s a really good, condensed history of Drumheller.”
The Town of Drumheller will be adding the complete heritage report to their website. To learn more, visit www.dinosaurvalley.com.
