City Council supports Fort Chipewyan grocery store and new TRAVIS trucking permitting system
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo City Council had a quick, 25 minute meeting tonight with just three items on the agenda.
The Community Identification Committee presented the Jean family with a boat launch sign in recognition to Bernard Jean.
The Jean Family is a huge part of Fort McMurray’s history.
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Bernard came to Fort McMurray in 1967. He worked for the Great Canadian Oil Sands, drew the first complete street map of Fort McMurray, served on many city committees, directed a Baptist Church youth camp for six years and was the architect for the Baptist church on Franklin Avenue.
In 1968, the Jean family opened Jean’s Gifts & Stationary and started publishing “The McMurray Courier,” a newspaper that was distributed to local residents.
Council approved issuing a letter of support for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations (ACFN) Community Opportunity Readiness Program.
They will now be able to apply for funding to the federal government for a community owned grocery store in Fort Chipewyan.
The new grocery store would offer competition to Fort Chipewyan’s current and only grocer, The Northern.
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It will also create more jobs in the northern Alberta Hamlet and hopefully reduce the alarmingly high cost of staple food items.
Council also approved implementing the Land Planning and Transportation Committee (LPTC) recommendation of using Transportation Routing and Vehicle Information System (TRAVIS) for multi-jurisdiction permitting in Alberta.
The TRAVIS permitting system will enable the municipality to have the following:
- Control over municipal road use – the system automatically notifies the Municipality of all permit application and usage of roads
- More truckers will have easier access to these permits and will apply for them more often
- Access to the permit databases which can be used for operational planning and road way management
- Generation of revenue though the sharing formula with the Province