The Anchor Weekly – The Chestermere Lake News

I am writing to express my disappointment with the Town of Chestermere’s lake dredging survey process. The lack of information provided made it impossible to make an informed decision. Specifically, the timeline and costs for dredging seemed excessive and enormous in range with no further explanations provided, funding by increasing taxes was the only method of financing identified, and the long-term outcomes to the community was completed omitted. Many residents identified their concerns with the lack of quantifiable information however the Town Council, to the best of my knowledge, did not publically respond, leaving residents to vote based on speculation. [...]

CHESTERMERE – It’s no secret that the weeds in Chestermere Lake have been an ongoing issue for many years. So, in the hopes of putting an end to the seaweed problem, the town of Chestermere began exploring new options for controlling weed growth, and came to the conclusion the dredging the lake could be the best possible answer. Deepening the lake restricts weed growth because sunlight can’t reach the roots of the weeds. The Town held a meeting earlier this year to hear proposals from several companies who were available to do the job. The timeline ranged from months to [...]

Dear Editor: Please vote ‘NO’ to dredging the lake. Yet again, we will be paying for ‘the lake’. We are already paying extra in property tax to live in this lake community. The non lakefront owner has very little square footage of access to the lakefront per capita. Perhaps it is square inches! There is not enough public area for people, or for parking to accommodate Chestermere’s population, and we share this space with all visitors. We are paying property taxes equally with our lakefront owners, or perhaps unequally considering my lake friend paid $4300.00 on a million dollar property, [...]

The information provided by the Mayor Matthews in her message appears to be very general and brief. I believe that a public forum and/or an open house should be held to inform all residents of the possible ramifications of a dredging project before anyone can make an educated survey vote. By involving all taxpayers from the outset with adequate information will lend more credence to this survey. Chestermere does not own the lake and all responsibilities regarding the governing of the lake should be laid out. Statistics regarding lake usage by residents should be brought forward. The lake is a [...]

To residents of Chestermere AND Town Council There is much talk and speculation flying around out growing Town regarding the dredging of the lake. In fact, since I moved here 6 years ago, it’s been an on again, off again discussion with varying opinions based on where you live, how you use the lake, or how much you actually know about the problem. And that is the point of this letter…there is not enough information being provided (or made easily accessible) for people to make informed choices, or at least, to develop an informed opinion. And further, too many people [...]

In response to the Mayors Monthly published letter regarding the Towns interest in the project of Dredging Chestermere Lake to control weeds etc, I have a few questions I would like answered in order to make an informed decision on which way I should vote. Questions are as follows, 1) I understand that Chestermere Lake is owned or governed by the Western Irrigation District, They or the Alberta Government should be concerned by the environmental issues if any exist. So why are Chestermere Tax payers being asked to contribute or pay in full to this project, as for a central [...]