The Crowsnest Revitalization Initiative, formed in the first half of 2009, is a locally formed committee with members representing numerous areas of the community, come together with one purpose in mind -- to look into potential options to help revitalize the economy in the Crowsnest Pass.
Chaired by Shane Stewart of Clanswest Development and Shar Lazzarotto of
Communinty Futures, the committee members together contributed more than 300 volunteer hours to the project. The committee presented its goals to council in April of 2009, and now they have submitted their final report and recommendations for council's consideration.
"We're looking for some positive things to happen in the community," says Lazzarotto. "We're hoping that some of the changes can be made."
She says that the initiative goes along with other planning efforts in the Pass, such as the Crowsnest Advisory Committee, and Community Future's local business survey.
Lazzarotto says that the committee featured a good cross-section of people from the community. It included representatives from the local business community, the
Frank Slide Interpretive Centre, the
Quad Squad, the
Conservation Society, the Affordable Housing Committee, the Historical Society, the
Chamber of Commerce, the
Municipality, and the hospital.
The committee developed a simple vision statement to sum up its goals and where it wants the community to be: "The Crowsnest Pass is a vibrant mountain community with a growing diverse economy supporting a healthy quality of life for residents while respecting our natural and historic resources."
Their report notes that only 15 percent of the local tax base is generated from commercial sources, compared to 28 percent in Claresholm, 34 percent in Pincher Creek, and 36 percent in Fernie. The remaining 85 percent is generated from residential properties.
Combined with the fact that the local population officially declined by 8.2 percent between 2001 and 2006, in a period when Alberta's population grew by 10.6 percent, the report contends that this is not sustainable for the municipality's funding of current services.
In addition, notes the report, the average age in the community is 48, making us on average the oldest community in Alberta. "We are aging more quickly in the Crowsnest Pass because our youth is leaving town due to lack of opportunity," the report says.
Finally, it says, 34.6 percent of residents earn less than $25,000 a year, making it impossible for all residents to keep up with municipal tax increases that are greater than the rate of inflation.
"Any one of these statistics could prove debilitating to any community," says the report, "but when all of these trends combine in concert during the greatest recession we have experienced in decades the result could prove disastrous in the Crowsnest Pass.
"To all residents, this reality needs to be reinforced, the quality of life that has been enjoyed for generations is in real danger if we do not make major changes very quickly.
"While these threats are real, we must not allow ourselves to become buried in doom (and) gloom. Our little community that truly is the jewel of the Rockies has experienced adversity before. In fact, this is what has shaped our proud and independent heritage over the last hundred or so years. What we need to do is to shape a vision, (a) strategic blueprint for our future direction and be proactive in a speedy implementation and action plan to chip away at our challenges one at a time."
The committee looked at four areas that are part of the Municipal Sustainability Planning guidelines -- human elements, economic development, environmental stewardship, and local resources.
