The City of Cold Lake has clarified that its proposal to the province would include a swath of land in the MD of Bonnyville to connect City boundaries to the bombing range. Any people living in the area would become part of Cold Lake.
The City and the 4 Wing Base Commander, Colonel David Wheeler, sent a letter to Municipal Affairs and the Treasury Board requesting the bombing range to be included in Cold Lake's boundaries two weeks ago.
In order for the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range to be added to the City of Cold Lake's boundaries, it would need to be physically connected in some way, said Cold Lake's Mayor Craig Copeland. The only way to connect the two regions would be through the MD of Bonnyville.
“First we want the province to look at that letter and say, ‘You know what, that does make sense, the weapons range needs to be part of the City of Cold Lake.' I want to get that first hurdle addressed,” Copeland said. “We're pretty flexible what it looks like.”
The decision on how to connect the bombing range with the city would be up to the province.
Primrose Road could be one possibility for a township-sized swath of land to connect the base and the city, he said. The other controlled access point to the range is north of La Corey on Highway 41.
“To have the Wing commander come in and support that initiative is really what changed the whole (situation),” Copeland said.
The MD of Bonnyville issued a statement on the proposal Friday, in which Reeve Ed Rondeau “recognizes the complexity of managing a sustainable community.”
Minister of Municipal Affairs Hector Goudreau will send an interim response thanking Cold Lake for its suggestions in the near future, said Municipal Affairs spokesman Jerry Ward.
“(Goudreau) will be discussing their ideas at cabinet with his colleagues to see if a fair and equitable solution for all parties can be achieved in this situation,” said Ward.
Ward could not say when the letter would get on cabinet's agenda.
“I don't know how the talks will end up, but I know they're trying to look at trying to solve the situation for them,” he said.
Although cabinet has not discussed the proposal, Goudreau has discussed the letter with cabinet members informally, Ward said.
The MD of Bonnyville plans to ask Goudreau to initiate a meeting with all municipalities in northeast Alberta facing sustainability issues, which would include Lac La Biche County, Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Town of Bonnyville, City of Cold Lake, Village of Glendon, and the MD of Bonnyville, according to a press release.
The weapons range is bordered by the MD of Bonnyville to the south, Lac La Biche County to the west, Wood Buffalo to the north, and Saskatchewan to the east. The land is leased by 4 Wing from the province.
“In our role as a municipal government, it is not within our mandate as a neighbouring municipality to address inequities of wealth among other municipalities within our region,” said Rondeau in the press release, adding that both provincial and federal governments should address the issue.
Lac La Biche County's concerns about losing assessment value would also need to be addressed by the province, said Copeland.
Mayor of Lac La Biche County, Peter Kirylchuk, said the municipality would be unviable if it lost the bombing range, in a recent interview with the Nouvelle.
Copeland ran his election campaign on getting the weapons range included in City boundaries last year. The idea was also supported by the previous City council and the idea has been on the table for a couple of years.
