Big Lakes County has launched a project to assess the five hamlets of Enilda, Grouard, Joussard, Faust and Kinuso with a vision to upgrade the communities.
At its regular meeting July 22, council approved a recommendation to contract Green Space Alliance, of Edmonton, to conduct an assessment of the hamlets, including potential revitalization opportunities and a review of maintenance and servicing.
Green Space provided a quote of $30,545 while Authenticcity Design Inc. stated a quote ranging from $34,750 to $48,760, CAO David Reynolds provided in a report to council.
The study was proposed by Faust Councillor Robert Nygaard, who presented a notice of motion to council at its regular meeting April 22.
Nygaard attended a recent Community Planning Association conference where he received information on hamlet revitalization.
Green Space is a multi-disciplinary planning and urban design firm with experience supporting municipalities across Alberta and western Canada.
Since 2017, Green Space has been involved with the Town of Slave Lake in developing a variety of downtown visioning studies, policy documents and place-making initiatives.
Big Lakes has five hamlets with area structure plans for Joussard, Grouard and Faust which are about nine years old, the Green Space document states.
The land-use policies are still applicable, but Big Lakes has an opportunity to review the physical attributes of each community and explore initiatives that may help establish a strong sense of place in those communities.
Big Lakes seeks to involve local council members and administration during the process and has a priority to involve residents and business within each hamlet.
Green Space is confident it can complete the study by the end of December based on its understanding of the project scope.
The project would include two online surveys for residents and property owners scheduled for August as well as one open house and possibly a second in November.
Green Space plans to draft revitalization frame work for each hamlet.
As part of the implementation plan, Green Space will develop a list of potential grants from provincial and federal governments for Big Lakes to consider.
“Our team brings extensive experience in creating custom-designed revitalization frameworks and place-making plans that align with client and stakeholder aspirations,” GSA principal Dnyanesh Deshpande says in the proposal.
“We would like to stress that GSA is particularly passionate about the topic of hamlet revitalization and committed to invest our own resources for the successful delivery for the project.
“GSA has developed and applied its own unique planning and design approach to hamlet, downtown and main street projects in small- and medium-scaled municipalities in Alberta.”
Over the years of working on revitalization projects, Green Space has developed several key guiding principles that focus on steps to:
-Ground the strategy in community and stakeholder comments and ideas.
-Integrate small-scale, medium-scale and large-scale initiatives.
-Plan for implementation at each project phase.
-Ensure consistency with the goals and objectives of other municipal plans.
-Promote community buy-in to achieve long-term sustainability.
-Consider the communities past, present and future.
-Co-ordinate early with all relevant municipal departments involved in implementation.
-Balance social, cultural and economic revitalization initiatives.
Nygaard’s proposal came just one week after the Big Lakes County and the Town of High Prairie Regional Strategic Economic Development Plan was presented to both councils and the community by consultant Deloitte Canada.
One of the stated actions in the report recommends that Big Lakes and High Prairie implement regional facade and streetscape improvement programs.
The Deloitte report recommends the municipalities support visible reinvestment in commercial areas through facade improvements, signage, landscaping and beautifying public places and public spaces.
By investing in how the region looks, feels and functions, High Prairie and Big Lakes can strengthen their regional identity and long-term competitiveness.
Richard Froese
South Peace News
Environment Canada Forecast 
Alberta 511 Road Reports 
Alberta Wildfire Status Map 
Do the people of the community care will they take a role in maintaining the upgrades or will it look like a dump in two years you can’t force a community to care