The Anchor Weekly – The Chestermere Lake News

CHESTERMERE – When the Redford government released the budget March 7th most people were relieved to hear there were no new tax increases. However just a day later Mayor Patricia Matthews was in shock when she was told the residents of Chestermere will be facing a 53% tax hike on the education portion of the property tax. Yes you heard right, 53 percent which equates to about $400 for the average home in Chestermere. And if that’s not shocking enough this tax increase is due in June when the taxes are due. The education taxes are collected by the Town [...]

CHESTERMERE – As of October 22nd construction will begin upon closing the intersection of Highway #1 and Paradise Road. It seems Alberta Transportation listened to the residents, the RCMP and the Chestermere Town Council and is proceeding to close off the median on the highway so that it is a right turn only on or off the two roads; there will be no left turns. The intersection has been a concern for years and has claimed several lives. The construction is expected to take about 3 weeks.

Do you have 10 minutes for your town every 4 years? Do you have something you would like Town Council to know about the quality of life in Chestermere or about Town services? Do you want to provide input on what the priorities should be for long-term development of recreational facilities in the future? If so, now is the time to have your say. Join your neighbours in completing the 2012 Town Survey, which opens September 1st and will remain open the entire month of September. The last time a survey was done on this kind of scale was back [...]

CHESTERMERE – On March 1, Chestermere Utilities Incorporated, better known as CUI, was officially launched. CUI is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Town of Chestermere, and will focus on water, wastewater, storm water, garbage collection and recycling services for the town. They will serve around 4,700 residential customers as well as 120 commercial customers. The town decided to form the corporation about two years ago, and after going through the formal application process, the CUI was approved last March by the minister of municipal affairs. In August, town council confirmed the appointment of the board of directors of Chestermere [...]

The regular meeting of Chestermere town council on Dec. 19, 2011 showed no appointments. ACTIONS/DECISIONS Council discussed Policy 123, regarding meeting room rental space at Town Hall. They were presented with three options, to either keep the policy as is, make changes to the policy such as add a security deposit, or to deny all groups except those committees that include town staff or a councillor. They discussed whether or not to charge groups for equipment use, such as for using projectors, televisions or sound systems, and how they would monitor deposits on this usage. It was discussed that a [...]

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 [...]

CHESTERMERE – Although it has been plagued with added costs and setbacks, the construction of the John Peake Park Pavilion is set to begin in the coming weeks. The 40-foot pavilion, which was originally given a budget of just over $200,000 for completion, has far exceeded the initial speculated cost. In May it was presented to council that the budget should be amended and pushed to over $300,000. After some debate, council agreed that it would be best to see the project to completion rather than tossing it out altogether. This amendment was mostly due to the cost of the [...]

CHESTERMERE – On Aug. 15, Chestermere’s town council confirmed the appointment of the board of directors of Chestermere Utilities Incorporated (CUI). The new municipal utility corporation will focus on sewer, water, wastewater, solid waste and recycling services for the town. Mayor Matthews, Deputy Mayor Kelsey Johnson and Councillors Patrick Bergen and Christopher Steeves were appointed to the Board earlier this year, and they have now been joined by Fred Clarke and Catherine Connolly. Clarke has spent 25 years in the oil and gas industry, focused on sales and marketing management primarily with Okanagan Helicopters and Resource Services Group. He is [...]

CHESTERMERE – At the council meeting June 20, Chestermere town council approved an amendment to the Garbage Bylaw which was to limit the size of the garbage receptacles to 33 gallons (124 liters). In order to follow the already existing terms of the weight limit in the bylaw, the container is able to weigh 110 pounds (49.90 kg). The weight limit per receptacle/bag is 55 pounds (24.95kg). At the Aug 15 council meeting, it was presented to council by Donna McCallum of Public Works that approximately 15 per cent of residents put their garbage loose into the containers, without bags. [...]

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 [...]