Badlands Motorsports Resort is one step closer to realizing its vision.
    On January 14, Kneehill County Council voted 3-2 on the third reading of a bylaw to rezone the property to a Direct Control District.
    “The Direct Control bylaw was passed, so now we are in the process of having the developers work with the county admin staff to develop the conditions of development,” said Kneehill County Reeve Bob Long. “Now every one of those conditions of the proposed development has to come to council for approval.   We have allowed the situation to develop so we can have input into the decisions.”
 The Badlands Motorsport Resort has been in the works for quite some time and it was brought back out into the limelight last year as it passed its Area Structure Plan. While there has been opposition going forward, Long feels the public consultation was valuable.
    “There are other people who have other opinions, but if you believe in the democratic process, the process works for proponents of something, but it also has to work for people opposed to something, and you have to follow through a sequence of steps. They presented an Area Structure Plan, which is what the proposed development could be and people attended the hearing in protest of that. Those concerns have been noted. Now we have moved from an Agricultural District to a Direct Control District and that was at the request of the lawyer of the opposition.”
    Long said with the bylaw they have introduced some stipulations.
    “We are not saying we have approved this because they now have to go to a development agreement which will further stipulate conditions that will have to exist. The second thing we introduced was the traffic study to include the primary and secondary access, including the access coming in from the south through Wheatland County and what impact it would have on their infrastructure systems.”
    Despite this, a group opposed to the development has taken legal steps to oppose the development. According to a website called Save the Rosebud, the group that offered to buy the land, posted they have filed legal opposition.
    “In legal terms the documents filed were “An Originating Application Pursuant to Section 536 of the Municipal Government Act with an Affidavit in Support (signed by Richard)”. The application seeks a declaration that the Badlands Motorsports ASP is invalid by virtue of its inconsistency with the Kneehill Municipal Development Plan and the Provincial Land Use Policies,” states the website.
    Long acknowledges the action and says it is based on the Area Structure Plan and was filed before third reading of the Direct Control Bylaw was complete.
    “Democracy is about the majority, but the responsibility for us as an elected council is to represent the interests of the minority, that is why the public hearing process is so important,” said Long.   

    The recently purchased STARS  AW139 helicopter is too big to land at the Drumheller Health Centre.
    Cam Heke, communications spokesman with STARS, says they are finding with some of the hospitals, the new helicopter is too large for the landing pads.
    Heke says STARS is continuing its training exercises, and will be at the Drumheller Airport Friday, January 24 at 8:30 am to work with  area emergency responders.
    Heke said there are cases where a doctor may request the new helicopter specifically to meet a patient’s needs.
    One alternative is landing at the local airport and transporting the patient by ground ambulance to the hospital.
    He explains Alberta Health Services would be responsible for any improvements needed to the landing pad to allow the new helicopter to land.
    According to a statement from AHS,  it has received $25 million from the provincial government for helipad upgrades over the next three years. Upgrades are being made to 13 sites, on a priority basis.
    Sites not scheduled for immediate remediation (which would include the Drumheller helipad) continue to be assessed on a regular basis, and will be upgraded based on need and as funding sources are confirmed.