Serving the Heart of Central Alberta for 106 years
VOLUME ONE-HUNDRED SEVEN
PM40011853 R08546
NUMBER THIRTY-THREE
STETTLER, ALBERTA
August 14, 2013
PRICE — $1.09 Plus
Mayor goes with the flow Former Stettler resident weighs his future as head of flood-struck High River JOHN MACNEIL Independent editor After one term as High River’s mayor, Emile Blokland had planned to run for the job again this fall. At least that was the plan until Mother Nature rained on his parade. Since late June, the former Stettler businessman and town councillor has been immersed in the greatest flood in High River’s history. On the frontlines of the flood devastation and the efforts to rebuild the town, Blokland has been both heralded and vilified for his part in the recovery. Such is the life of a politician. The upheaval has at least made Blokland, 60, reconsider another bid for the mayor’s chair in the October municipal election. “That’s a tough question,” he said in a July interview when asked whether he intends to seek re-election. “I had signalled intention early in the spring that I would run for another term, but this past month has been extremely draining for me personally and mentally. “I’m going to be working hard these next two to three months, before the term is finished, and I think I’ll re-assess my energy level towards the end of August, and make a followup statement on that.” Either way, Blokland’s life has been forever impacted — likewise for 13,000 residents of High River, and those people in other southern Alberta communities whose properties were destroyed in the June 20 flood strike. Historically, “High River has had many floods,” said Blokland, who was elected to High River town council in 2007 and became the mayor in 2010. “We’re very good at dealing with floods in High River. We’re very experienced. Water comes, water goes, we clean up afterwards and life goes on. We never ask for help and we take care of things. (But) this one was totally different. It stopped being a flood about three hours into the event and became a disaster.” On a personal level, Blokland was awakened early on the day the raging floodwaters arrived and broke the banks of the Highwood River. And he’s relived the nightmare many times since then. “I was awakened at about six (o’clock) in the morning and made my way to the town office right away with the rest of council,” he said. “At 7:04, we declared a local state of emergency, and reports starting coming in from all over about the amount of water that was coming our way. The provincial monitoring stations that are in place to help communities like High River to know what’s coming at us were all blown out, so we got no information from them. JOHN MacNEIL/Independent editor
WHEEL DEAL — Andrew Shirley, who turned 16 last weekend, ramps it up at the Stettler Skate Park.
Continued on Page A2
Stettler plans flood protection in town development strategy RICHARD FROESE Independent reporter After spring flooding devastated parts of southern Alberta, policies to protect property have been recommended for the Town of Stettler’s updated municipal development plan. At its regular meeting last week, town council gave first reading to the bylaw to update the MDP, as staff plans to adopt the bylaw before the municipal election in mid-October. “Only two significant amendments to the MDP have been made,” Dave Dittrick of Zap Consulting told council.
“The policy respecting development within the floodway/flood fringe has been reinstated. “Under the new plan, the environmental policy will reinstate that the town will not permit development in areas prone to flooding. “Permanent structures will not be allowed in a 1:100-year flood plain of the Red Willow Creek. “Permanent structures will be allowed in the flood fringe of the creek, subject to appropriate flood-proofing certified by a professional engineer.” The town’s director of operations, Melissa Robbins, told council that a flood map is being
developed in partnership with the County of Stettler. As well, the transportation map has been revised to shift the trucking and dangerous goods route from 46 Street to the newly-aligned section of Highway 56. “Since last summer, (the town) administration has undertaken community consultation and prepared the final amendments to the municipal development plan,” Dittrick said. Just one Stettler resident attended an open house last October. After a public hearing, the updated MDP is scheduled to be presented to the current council.
JOHN MacNEIL/Independent editor
ON A ROLL — Melissa Robbins, the town’s director of operations, uses props as she makes a presentation to the Communities in Bloom judges visiting Stettler.
JOHN MacNEIL/Independent editor
PAINTING HISTORY — Ron Sackman, owner of R.n.S. Painting, takes a break from painting one of the historic Stettler Town and Country Museum buildings.
Readers can also find the Stettler Independent at stettlerindependent.com