Today Mayor Melissa Blake addressed the Fort McMurray Chamber of Commerce for the annual State of the Region address.
To a room full of people, she highlighted the triumphs of the region while focusing on hurdles it will face.
Blake hinted that in the results of next months municipal census, there will be around 116,000 residents accounted for.
She stressed that one of the region’s biggest hurdles with this kind of rapid growth is getting land.
“Land remains critical to us, but what’s changed over that period is how we’re using what we’ve already got. So when you look at the city centre redevelopment you in fact creating more density in the same space that exists and you don’t have to rely on somebody else giving you the land, you can deal with the private sector and get what’s needed for those projects”
She says that if they achieve what the region plans to with the ‘Zero-Waste Initiative,’ it will be able to free up space that would have been used for landfills..
“We think it’s a great opportunity to take the only land we do have and make it more valuable.”
Last year the provincial government promised a land bank in the form of the Urban Development Sub-Region (USDR).
She says that it is something still being ironed out.
She doesn’t want to see the community become a depot town, “with thousands of people living in work camps.”
She says that it is the risk the community faces if the province doesn’t recognize how important the land is for our region especially with the way things are progressing.
“The response side is a little bit slower than the reality side, and so the more were capable of taking responsibility in some of the things that matter most to us….we need the ability to make things happen.”
The Regional and Structure Plan, that is being developed, will help put in place strategies to help make things happen.
She also spoke of the proposed 2013 budget of $1-billion.
She said we have it because with rapid growth locking down important elements such as land, transportation and access, and infrastructure that will be needed to accommodate the growth .
Looking into the next year, Blake says that goals include, “ the catalyst projects for the downtown redevelopment, we’ve got the on-going expansion to MacDonald Island thatwe’re responsible for providing some funding for.”
She says too that the rural communities will all see some significant contribution in the next year.
She encouraged the region’s stakeholders to show the province their concerns about land and transportation issues that affect Wood Buffalo’s growth.
This all come after a public session Monday on planning and developing the USDR.
It was put on by Alberta Energy’s Oil Sands Sustainable Development Secretariat here in Fort McMurray.
The Municipality also made a presentation at the Shell Jackpine mine hearing where transportation and land issues were also made.
“What I want to commit to for residents already living here and the ones that are yet to comeis that when we put together these plans and these projects and we try to get them in place, we want to build you a world class city, that you ’ll be proud to be in, and that your families will love to be here, to the point where you’ll never want to leave us.”
Here is Mayor Melissa Blake delivering the address.
[audio: http://pmd.country933.com/audio/ferne-news/2012-stateoftheregion-mayormelissablake.mp3]For even more information CLICK HERE
November 22nd, 2012
