BONNYVILLE – MD of Bonnyville council has approved moving forward with applications for Alberta Small Community Opportunity Grants that aim to pursue two projects - one to fund community consultation and education in regards to the developments of a small modular reactor (SMR), and the other to fund a Master Resort Plan for the expansion of tourism facilities at Kinosoo Ridge Resort.
Scott Kovatch, economic development specialist, presented the grant application to council during the Dec. 10 meeting.
“The Small Community Opportunity Program is a matching 90/10 funding grant program established to tackle challenges, building capacity, and the economic footprint of rural communities. The maximum eligible individual project budget is $100,000,” said Kovatch.
Kovatch said the projects are a means to fulfil the MD’s objective of creating a “viable and diversified” local economy, and referenced the impact of job creation, attracting potential investors, and generating new revenue for the MD, all while “maintaining our rural influences.”
Coun. Ben Fadeyiw commented that they are both great projects to get on board with and inquired about how administration came up with the idea. Kovatch explained it was sparked through administration sourcing the information, and investors asking the MD to provide information that would “qualify and quantify the opportunities.”
Kovatch explained to council that the one grant aims to engage with rural businesses and residents in relation to the industrial growth associated with nuclear energy in the region.
Two separate motions were made, and the first motion to approve the grant for community engagement surrounding a SMR was carried.
Kinosoo Ridge
When a motion was made to approve the grant application for the Kinosoo Ridge master plan, Coun. Josh Crick voiced his concerns over Kinosoo Ridge being subsidized and not making money.
"It doesn't seem like we're really making anything off any of our tourism facilities. I get it only cost us $10,000 to get the master plan done [with this grant] but going forward there could be potential extra costs. I know we have a recreation plan for the hill that says that we could be making a bunch of money, but I'm kind of skeptical of the whole idea myself,” said Crick.
Fadeyiw responded by citing the years of hard work the MD has put into Kinosoo Ridge, and recent interest of site selectors from Florida and Invest Alberta, who are excited about the expansion of Kinosoo Ridge.
“This is our only economic development driver that we have here. We don't have any hotels, we don't have any service stations in the MD this is the only thing we should be supporting 110 per cent,” said Fadeyiw
Fadeyiw spoke about the possibilities of optimizing Kinosoo Ridge, and feels the timing is right to get behind the project.
“We've worked really hard for the last seven years to put this on the map. We've worked hard with Ministries, with Parks, and now . . . they're actually listening . . . We have to be behind this,” said Fadeyiw,
Kovatch offered clarification on what the master plan will provide.
“The whole purpose here is to identify whether these opportunities . . . are going to hold water. The objective is to identify where the return on investment is best and then we can take that information and use that to market our opportunities [so] we don't have to use speculation anymore,” said Kovatch
Coun. Don Slipchuk offered the perspective of where they started with Kinosoo Ridge, when the costs were enormous, compared to where administration has successfully brought them down to.
“We’ve got to continue investing in this, so we get our return back and keep it in our community. We can’t just shut it down. We're improving every year since we’ve been on council thanks to the administration and their skills. We’ve got to go forward with this,” said Slipchuk.
Crick agreed that administration has done a great job reducing costs and inquired about the interest shown from site selectors and investors.
Esther Quiambao with Planning and Community Services commented that administration has spoken with two site selectors who have shown interest in and support for the project.
“This project specifically is something that has evolved over the past couple of months, which is why it wasn't something that was discussed during our operation budget deliberations as a potential project. That's why it's coming in kind of last minute,” explained Quiambao.
Quiambao explained that although the grant requires a motion from council for them to apply, it does not require a financial commitment.
“If we are successful, we will be bringing this back,” said Quiambao.
“We've had provincial ministers come out there that have never been there, and they just were amazed with it. They all [said] there's such huge opportunities here,” said Slipchuk.
The motion to approve the grant application for the Kinosoo Ridge Master Resort Plan was unanimously carried.