Cranbrook's Waste Water Upgrades

As most Cranbrook residents are aware, an upgrade ($15,000000.00 +) to Cranbrook's waste water disposal system is in progress.   Part of the upgrades include a plan to increase capacity.  The system has been unable for quite some time to deal with the volume of Cranbrook's effluent.  Conclusions of an Environmental Hearing dictated that  improvements had to be made and a cost sharing agreement was put in place between federal, provincial and the local municipality.  We do not know the cost of the Environmental Hearing to Cranbrook. Not all necessary upgrades will be achievable with the presently allocated funds.

A report on this project's progress is scheduled for the Administration Update at November 22nd at Monday's Council Meeting.  

The system currently has settling ponds on the edge of town from where the effluent is pumped out to two storage ponds near Fort Steele before being sprayed on to the irrigation fields or in time of excess pumped into the Kootenay River.  The irrigation fields can be seen on your left when driving towards Fernie. Part of the new plan required an additional third storage pond to be built with the ability to pump into the Kootenay River.

new effluent storage pond 3 in preparation,  November 2010




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effluent pipe to feed into pond 3,  November 2010

Rolls of geomembrane which will be used to line the new storage pond. November 2010.

The contents of storage pond 3 will be pumped into the Kootenay River via a buried pipeline.

A vent or vacuum break to the

underground pipe leading down to the Kootenay River, November 2010

What’s Happening

Friday November 19th
Bisset Singers,  'Musical Feast'
7:00pm, Alliance Church
Kootenay Street
Tickets $12 from Lotus Books, Mane Design, Pro Fitness and at the door

Friday November 19th
Alter Ego at the Byng
High energy rock band from 9:30 until close

15th Annual Country Friends Arts and Crafts Show
3pm on Friday 19th and Saturday November 20th 10:00am on
Stemwinder Building
500 Stemwinder Drive
Kimberley

Saturday November 20th
Salvation Army Tea and Bake Sale
1:30pm Salvation Army Building
533 Slater Road
Cranbrook

Saturday November 20th
Country Round Up Dance
7:00pm Senior Centre
125 17th Ave. Cranbrook
250-426-3844, 250-426-2655
250-417-3255

Saturday November 20th
Beginner Encaustic Painting
12:00am Cranbrook and District Arts Council
32A 11th Ave. S.
250-426-4223

Saturday November 20th
Tea and Bake Sale
11:00am Mt. Zion Lutheran Church
corner 11th Ave and 11th St
Cranbrook

Saturday November 20th
3rd Annual Craft and Trade Fair
Marysville School 10:00am
Marysville Elementary School

Saturday November 20th
Gimme Shelter Concert,
Local Artists
Key City Theatre 7:30pm
Admission by donation

Saturday Barra MacNeils Concert
SOLD OUT

Tuesday November 23rd
Art Literacy Camp at Steeples School
10:00am - 11:00am
as part of the Strong Start Program
for the birth to age 5 group
Children must be accompanied by an adult.


Get tickets now for:
Cranbrook Community Theatre
It’s a Wonderful Life
Studio Stage Door
Nov. 26-27th
Dec. 1-4 and 8-11
Tickets $15 Lotus Books


Symphony of the Kootenays Concert
‘Christmas in the Kootenays’
Saturday December 4th 7:30pm and
Sunday Dec 5th at 2:00pm
Tickets $35, $30 and $15
Key City Theatre Box Office

On a snowy evening in Cranbrook...



Jeremy Sturgess

 Over 80 people gathered at the College of the Rockies last night to hear architect Jeremy Sturgess speak about sustainable development and architecture. Jeremy is familiar with the East Kootenays and he enjoyed being able to see  parts of Cranbrook including our charming downtown, some of the heritage neighbourhoods, and Slaterville. (Look for more ideas from Jeremy on Slaterville in a later blog post) Jeremy believes that sprawl is no longer sustainable for cities. This does not mean cities will not "grow", in fact sustainability helps create growth. Many cities have 100 years of usable land if they would increase density and use fallow land within the cities boundaries.  Higher density housing does not necessarily mean high rise apartments and he showed us many examples of his work  It means beautiful well designed units which can follow people through their entire life cycles. It's time to rethink the suburb and our car centric urban planning to start creating urban villages where people can work within their neighbourhoods. Cranbrook has an amazing opportunity to be a leader in this sort of planning and development.   Thanks to Jeremy Sturgess for sharing his inspirational vision and  providing us with ideas for our future here in Cranbrook.

Jeremy Sturgess speaking tonight in Cranbrook

Calgary Water Centre

World renowned architect, Jeremy Sturgess is speaking tonight in Cranbrook at the College of the Rockies. Lecture Theatre at 7pm. Mr. Sturgess is known for his unique design aesthetic and his extensive concern for sustainability in all his projects.  The Bridges in Calgary and the Calgary Water Centre  as well as the Banff Town Hall are just a few of his significant contributions to the field of architecture. Since 1993 as the principal of Sturgess Architecture, Jeremy was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy in 2002 and is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary. Just this year a book about his 30 year career was published called 'Full Spectrum'.


Sturgess specializes in regionally appropriate architecture such as the use of Rocky Mountain design elements as well as exploring the use of colour and unique shapes. He is interested in environmentally sustainable design and the sociology of architecture. Mr. Sturgess is concerned with how buildings relate to people and how they can help foster community. He is known for the redevelopment of the old General Hospital site, the Connaught Gardens housing development in Edmonton, the Alberta Pavillion at EXPO86, the Calgary Water Centre, and the redesign of downtown LRT stations as well as many other public and private buildings.

The Bridges - Calgary

The demolishing of the General Hospital in downtown Calgary left a large open space in the middle of the inner city neighbourhood of Bridgeland. It is in this space that Jeremy Sturgess and his team designed the masterplan for The Bridges. Using a series of charettes (small discussion groups) the local community was widely consulted about their vision for the redevelopment. This 37 acre site redesign has helped revitalize this older inner city neighbourhood. It connects the neighbourhood to the downtown core, is pedestrian friendly, has distinctive lighting, tree lined streets, and mixed use housing concept of commercial, retail and residential structures. Higher population density planning such as this helps support more efficient transport methods as well as enhance connectivity by allowing citizens the ability to commute via bike or public transit.

Banff Town Hall

Fewer roads mean huge cost savings to municipalities and this type of development is in the forefront of progressive and sustainable design. Over 1/3 of the lands have been left as parks or recreational areas including soccer fields and a toboggan run. The City of Calgary mandated energy efficiencies, encouraging LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) building standards from the developers. Affordable housing was also a priority with a mixed market approach used. This has led to a truly unique and successful collaboration between the City of Calgary, developers, and citizens.

In the coming months the people of Cranbrook will be able to express our vision for Cranbrook via the Integrated Community Sustainablity Plan committee now called Cranbrook Connected. Cranbrook Connected will be focusing on sustainability in all city planning designs. Sturgess’s presentation will provide much “food-for-thought” as we’re invited to give voice to shaping Cranbrook’s future planning.

See you tonight!

Grow Food, Not Grass

I recently attended a sustainability forum where the number one issue was food security. People want to be able to know where their food comes from, how it is produced and to be less reliant on imported food. From back yard chickens to urban bee keeping , food security issues are becoming more main stream. The Mayor of North Vancouver, Darrel Mussatto, wants the citizens of his city to turn their lawns into gardens.  So often we are looking for the big solution to some of our more complex environmental problems but the mayors solution is quite simple. Use available green space to produce food. Turn our lawns into gardens and produce more of the food that we eat. City staff are being asked to produce an urban agriculture strategy. The city wants to prevent any impediments to people growing their own food.and to provide possible incentives. I know my garden will be a bit bigger next year. How about yours? Is it a good idea for local government to become involved in food security issues?

Around Town and Looking Good - A Winter Farmers' Market

When we saw there was a chance to help The Farmers' Market volunteers clean those very dirty windows on the old Supervalu Store in preparation for their Winter Market November 26th and 27th, we couldn't resist a long talked about opportunity!  So on Saturday, November 13th a great group of people scraped and scrubbed until the old building had a little shine back.  Many Thanks to the Red Neck Cafe and The Dollar Store  for supplying us with hot water, also to the others for offering.  Many Thanks to Erna and the Farmer's Market Committee and vendors for putting some life back into that building.  We wish The Farmers Market the best success and hope the Winter Market will become a regular happening.
For more information on the market:
http://www.cranbrookfarmersmarket.com/

Many Cranbrook residents lament that this discarded building sits empty in a vital part of our community.  With its great wooden support beams and vast space we hope the winter market will be the catalyst to bring inspiration for a more permanent use.  If you have an idea for this building tell us - who knows maybe with some open discussion, someone will hear and have the means to make it happen!



Councillor Whetham came out to help



 

















ready for the Winter Market





A Sunday Stroll



IdleWild Park provides a short but easy stroll for a chilly Sunday



Putting Sustainability into Action

The new buzzword seems to be sustainability. Its a great idea but what does it mean and how do we put it into action?  Monday night in Kimberley, MLA Norm McDonald and MLA Lana Popham took us through an exercise which provided some answers to those questions.  Participants were presented with 12 principals of sustainability:

Eco-system Protection
Resource Conservation
Biodiversity
Resilience
Protection of the Commons (Water and Air)
Food Security
Social Equity
Full Cost Economics
Precautionary Principal
Adaptive Management
Democracy and Due Process
Just Transition

On tables around the room, each principle was presented with paper to write down your ideas about how each could be enacted at the Federal, Provincial, and Municipal levels.  A lot of discussion and good ideas came from this process and it was interesting to see  people come up with local, grass root solutions.  People were also able to vote on their top three principles. At the Kimberley forum the top principal was Food Security, followed by Resource Conservation and finally Protecting the Commons.
Think about these principles and how they could infuse our daily lives with values to live by in the choices we and our politicians make. Would people in Cranbrook be interested in taking part in this type of forum?
We all have an opportunity to take part in our own local sustainability project called Cranbrook Connected. To learn more go to http://www.cranbrookconnected.ca/.

Water on the Table

Water was our focus in October. Another documentary concerning
the privatisation of water will be shown at
The Sacred Heart Church, Kimberley, 502, Church St
on Monday November 15th at 7:00pm. 
If you did not see our showing of the movie 'Thirst'
and the commodification of water concerns you,
this another opportunity to gain more insight.
Water is becoming a major topic of discussion amongst governments
and investors around the world.
Wonder what the fuss is about - here is one article.

http://environment.about.com/od/globalwarming/a/waterinvesting.htm




For a brief preview......

What’s Happening

Friday November 12th

Way-Lyn Golf Clubhouse Craft Show

2 to 8:00pm


Saturday November 13th

Christmas Craft Fair

Fraternal Order of Eagles

9:00am – 4:00pm

and 11:00am – 4:00pm Sunday

Kootenay St. N. Cranbrook



Saturday November 13th

Artisans’ Open House

Marysville Store

10:00am – 5:00pm



Saturday Nov. 13th and Sunday Nov 14th

Painting Workshop, 9:00am

With John deJong

Cranbrook and District Arts Council

32A –11th Av. S

Inf. 250-426-4223



Saturday November 13th

Locals Coffee House


7:30pm $7 tickets at Swing Street, Lotus Books

or at the Studio Stage Door on the evening



Wednesday November 17th

Architect, Jeremy Sturgess lecture

COR Lecture Theatre 7:00pm