VE
The Invermere
ALLEY CHO
4
4
Ser ng th
h
t 4 r e b Novem 2015
Vo
7
l ey
19 56
Mica Dam making more energy
lum
9
ue
BERNIE RAVEN CHRIS RAVEN 1-866-598-7415 TEAMRAVEN.CA Offices in Panorama, Invermere & Fairmont
8
Some handy car care tips before winter hits
1
$
05 INCLUDES GST
Maxwell Realty Invermere
PUBLICATIONS MAIL REGISTRATION NO. 7856
Kalista Pruden and her daughter Avalyn were among the roughly 25 zombies that gathered at Pothole Park on Friday, October 30th for the annual Invermere Zombie Walk. The ghoulish group walked to the Station Pub, terrifying onlookers along the way. PHOTO BY BREANNE MASSEY
Invermere council offers support to Legacy Trail STEVE HUBRECHT steve@invermerevalleyecho.com Invermere council iterated its support for the Westside Legacy Trail at its most recent meeting. The Greenways Trail Alliance — which hopes to start construction soon on the planned paved trail running along Westside Road between Invermere and Fairmont Hot Springs — sent a letter to council, received at the Tuesday, October 27th meeting, asking for a letter of support from the district, which the alliance can then include in its grant applications for the project. The request resulted in some discussion among councillors about the potential for the trail to compete with Invermere’s planned multi-use centre for grant funding, and whether it would be wise of council to issue a general letter of support for all grant
applications made by the alliance for ALC denies CastleRock the Westside Legacy Trail, or whether At the meeting, council also received it made more sense to give a letter of a copy of a letter sent by the provincial support on a case-by-case basis for Agricultural Land Commission to Caseach individual grant application. tleRock developer Mark Himmelspach, All councillors, however, were un- turning down CastleRock Estate Develequivocal in their general support for opment’s application for non-agriculthe trail. tural use on Agricultural Land Reserve “The trail will be a (ALR) land. The trail will be a The land referenced great addition to the community, both for great addition to in the application is locals and visitors,” the community, both for 0.7 hectares located said Invermere maywithin the boundaror Gerry Taft, speak- locals and visitors. ies of CastleRock, and GERRY TAFT ing after the meeting. MAYOR, DISTRICT OF INVERMERE the intent had been “Aside from increasto use it as a parking ing safety for those biking along West- area for trailers and boats. The District side Road, it is a great amenity in terms of Invermere had given its approval of of the connectivity it helps develop in the application more than a year ago afthe valley.” ter much heated debate and a narrow In the end, council members voted three-two vote (previously reported in unanimously to give a general letter of The Pioneer) in favour of district apsupport for all grant applications Gre- proval made by the previous Invermere enways makes for the trail project. council (prior to the 2014 municipal
election). “So we said ‘yes’, but the ALC said ‘no’,” said Taft. “No matter what we as a council decide, it is the ALC that gets to make the final decision on these matters. They sometimes see things through a bit of a different lens than we (council) do. We may look at things from a planning perspective, while their primary perspective is agriculture.” The ALC’s letter said the reason for rejecting the application was that the land had good agricultural capability and should be preserved for agricultural use, and that other non-ALR lands nearby could be used for trailer and boat storage. Public input sought on budget At the same meeting, council gave first and second reading to its budget bylaw, which, if passed, would see a one and a half per cent increase in the See A4
Fresh Fridays – Youth Open Mic Friday November 6th at 7 pm
What does ART mean to you?
Cinefest Film Series: Learning to Drive Tuesday November 10th at 7 pm Tickets at the door
Visit columbiavalleyarts.com for our current events calendar, or call 250-342-4423.
Happy BirtHday to pynelogs!
1914 - 2014
Celebrating 100 years