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Last updateFri, 11 Oct 2024 4pm

Flood Mitigation update

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The flood program has made great progress in increasing the flood resilience of the Drumheller Valley. North Drumheller and East Coulee berm construction are well underway —they are both moving along smoothly. The downtown berm is fully complete and the pathways and park are now open to the public.
Over the course of the month, Phase 2 of the East Coulee berm has continued its construction process. Topsoil stripping has been completed along the entire footprint of the berm. The footprint of the berm was also fully prepared for fill placement and the placement of clay has now begun for the berm.
Power poles in the area have been taken into consideration, either being worked around or relocated. As construction has been underway for some time, the East Coulee site currently has large excavations, contractor equipment and areas not appropriate for foot traffic. Contractors ask the residents and visitors of East Coulee to please respect the construction fencing and signage during all hours of the day. Respecting the fencing along with other safety precautions put in place by the Town or Contractor will result in a faster and safer construction process.
Phase 1 of construction in East Coulee is complete and is now seeing grass sprouting, along with some weed activity. Contractors are monitoring the weeds closely and mowing/picking them as required. Phase 1 will have additional riprap placement upstream still to come in late summer.
During the past month, North Drumheller construction has continued on Michichi Creek West Berm, Michichi Creek East Berm, Michichi Creek Channel Re-Alignment and Hospital Extension Berm. The majority of time in the first few weeks was spent hauling in material (clay), and material compaction on Michichi Creek East and Michichi Creek West berms, this work is nearing completion.
The drainage swale on the Michichi Creek East Berm was graded and the slopes were trimmed. Topsoil placement on berm slopes as well as the clay trimming of slopes has been ongoing through the past weeks as well. Excavation for the realignment of Michichi Creek has begun at the north end of the Michichi Creek West Berm.
Construction for the sanitary sewer lift station south of the Drumheller Health Centre has begun, with ground-breaking two weeks ago. The project will soon be receiving an order of willow stakes that will be placed along the riprap on the realigned Michichi Creek channel. This is a type of engineering called bioengineering where we use plants to help stabilize channel banks so that the channel will be more natural, and it is better for the environment. The design will consist of layers of rock and plants. The idea is that when the plants mature, they will hide the rock, giving the creek a more natural appearance and their roots will provide additional stability to the channel banks.
The riprap that was originally installed in Michichi Creek has not washed away. During construction, Wilco discovered that the riprap is in fact still there, it’s just become buried in soil and hidden by the willows that naturally grew between the rocks over time. This rock has been removed and will be reused on-site for the channel realignment. Once finished, we will be trying to replicate this same effect with the design to give the creek a natural appearance and to provide added habitat for the wildlife in the area.
Maintenance of berms by contractors continues for those berms constructed in 2023 for a two-year period. A survey has been released to The Town of Drumheller residents asking for your input on where new trees and shrubs should be planted, we ask all that are able to participate to do so to get the most information and well-rounded view possible.


Lost Egg Classic expands to three day tourney

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23 years ago, the Lost Egg Classic started as a quirkily named event playing a unique sport in unforgiving terrain.
It is still all of these things, but it is also now one of the premier Disc Golf events in Canada, attracting enthusiasts and amateurs for the experience, and professionals for the purse.
The 23rd annual Lost Egg Classic was played out at the Wayne Disc Golf Course over the August long weekend. This year’s event was spread over three days and 145 golfers came to challenge the course.
“It used to be a small tournament, like two rounds in one day, explains Jordan Alway who has been organizing the event for the last three years. He played four years ago and was hooked.
The event attracts mostly players from Alberta, including a few locals, but there are many from out of province. The terrain is a big part of the attraction.
“It is one of the most unique courses in Canada,” said Alway, noting the only other course that mirrors this type of terrain is in Montana.
The competition is also one of the big factors. It is sanctioned by the Canadian Disc Golf Association and is part of the Cold Garden Tour.
“Last year I was number two in payouts for the pro division in Canada for the B Tier,” he said. “That brings people here”.
On this day there were five pro divisions playing, as well as three amateur female divisions, one junior division and six mixed divisions.
The event has a great reputation they want to expand on it.
“This is one of the premier events in Canada, everyone talks about this,” he said.
The weekend saw seven local athletes participating and they fared well. Megan McLaughlin won silver in the women’s amateur division, Kai Jones won silver in the U18 division and Darren Jones won silver in the Intermediate mature division.

Acme managing growth pressures

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The Village of Acme continues to see growth and is working hard to manage it as builds for the future.
Over the last few years, the Village has seen great growth in food processing with the establishment of Soleterra d’Italia, which has been producing Italian meat products. This was followed up when Sunterra established its greenhouse.
In January of this year, OTI broke ground on its first Canadian location. The company plans the construction of a 15,000-ton grain storage elevator, a wheat flour mill with a daily capacity of 300 tons, a pasta production line with a daily capacity of 100 tons and a confectionary plant with a daily capacity of 50 tons. In the future, OTI also hopes to add a canola-crushing plant to the north of the wheat flour mill.
When fully operational, the plant could produce more than 350 jobs for the community.
This is on top of a promise of a new school, which is underway.
Acme Mayor Bruce McLeod tells the Mail the OTI Flour Mill construction is underway, and they hope it is up and running in November.
He explains the council has worked hard to be investment-ready, and a couple of years ago, was able to secure grants to upgrade its sanitary system. They are also upgrading their reservoir and pumping station.
“The tender just closed, so we will be starting on that shortly and looking at the major work this spring,” said McLeod.
This will help them as they develop more land for residential and commercial property.
He says the OTI investment also comes with residential investment. The Village is responding to this imminent population increase by expanding the north side of Heritage Estates, with 16 new lots to be built on by OTI.
“It is just the matter (of OTI) gets this thing up and running, and then they move into some housing, and then the pasta plant. And then they move into the confectionery stuff,” said McLeod. “They are taking their time and doing it right, and that is a good thing.”
The new developments are welcome, and the Village has been making changes to facilitate this.
“Over the last number of years, this current council and the previous one to that, all established that we wanted to change our land use bylaw. We wanted to make sure that if someone came knocking on the door, we were ready,” he said. “There was not going to be a roadblock to the permits to do things… that’s what we’ve done.”
With economic expansion, the Village has gone from looking for residential developers to having them actively working in the community.
The Village is also looking into some of the government programs to help with its residential development. They applied for the Federal Accelerated Housing Grant last year but were unsuccessful. They are planning to reapply.
“We have also been in constant contact with our MLA Nathan Cooper about different grants Alberta-wide. Martin Shields, our MP, has been really helpful in pointing us in the right direction.”
With industrial and residential growth, the next in line comes commercial.
“The Downtown core, we are looking at that. It is part of our strategic planning. In that northeast section, they are also looking at commercial there, maybe a service station or a restaurant,” said Mcleod. “We are encouraging our downtown area to clean things up and work with us, and we’ll work with them.
“We have a lot on our plate here.”


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