It’s certainly been a busy year so far for the City of Airdrie and it’s guaranteed to get busier in the coming months. 

As the City moves into the second half of 2018, Mayor Peter Brown looked back on the last six months and what took place for the community.

Mayor Peter Brown during a ceremony at the Airdrie Legion.

The year started with plenty of snow, meaning that road crews were busy around the clock clearing the roads.

Mayor Brown says that the City received positive feedback with the snow clearing efforts from residents.

Among all the exciting projects and initiatives that happened in the past few months, there was one that Mayor Brown is really happy about.

“Being one of the top ten finalists for the Smart Cities Challenge for our Digital Health Strategy. That will be in play here for the next six months so that’s very exciting. We have a one in five chance of winning $10 million.”

Mayor Brown is also pleased with the progress from the Airdrie and Area Health Benefits Co-Op and the possibility of making Airdrie a Blue Zone community for Healthcare.

On the economic side, Mayor Brown was not only pleased with what took place in the first half of the year but with what the future could bring.

“We had the 10 Year Economic Development Framework. There was an engagement with about 30-plus businesses over five or six meetings and they came up with a very good list of some of the things we need to focus on in the next 10 years in order to meet some of our goals.”

Rolling into the second half of the year, the City is still working hard on a lot of different road projects and water maintenance.

“Construction will be in play, we’ve got a little bit of development,” says Mayor Brown, “Our major road this year is 24th Street from Yankee Valley heading south, about 400 metres. A lot of underground work going on throughout the City with water mains and sewage lines.”

Other key events that are coming up include the discussion on By-Laws relating to the upcoming legalization of cannabis and how that will look for the City.

Councill will discuss that at their upcoming meeting on July 3rd.

Mayor Brown says that he’s heard the needs and desires of residents for amenities such as a second recreational facility and says they need to look at their financial plans to see what’s feasible.

“Putting the fiscal framework together with the needs of the community members. All the expectations align with really connecting residents and saying, ‘what do you want to see in your community?’. For me, that’s probably the main driver coming up here in the next little while.”

Mayor Brown says that Genesis Place cost around $75 million after all the developments and expansions were complete, but nowadays other communities are spending over $100 million for their facilities.

Other key topics that Mayor Brown touched on included the revitalization of downtown, planning for 40th Avenue to the QEII and decisions on affordable housing and seniors living.

 

READ MORE:

Business In Airdrie Is Still Growing Halfway Through The Year

Airdrie Is A Smart Cities Finalist

 

Questions, comments or story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com