Gull Lake AB, Urgent request for Inter-Municipal Watershed Development Management Plan

Attention: Lacombe County & Ponoka County
Planning Departments for Gull Lake, AB

Gull Lake AB URGENTLY needs a Watershed Development Management Plan.
This will enable responsible development projects within the watershed and help prevent the degradation of the lake and watershed environment. A long term sustainability strategy will help protect future quality of life and manage economic growth potential.

Currently, there is a variety of proposed projects around the lake with over 3100 lots for potential development of permanent and recreational users. In addition, the number of approved development projects will see an addition of over 400 lots of permanent and recreational use, totaling over 3500 new lots all within the Gull Lake watershed plus all existing developments.

Gull Lake URGENTLY needs a Watershed Development Management Plan to facilitate a healthy, sustainable environment to protect future use and successful economic growth. The municipalities have an opportunity to become leaders in lake stewardship. Concerned citizens and ratepayers are requesting;

Initiate an immediate review of the Gull Lake Management Plan 2000
Create an inter-municipal watershed stewardship group for Gull Lake and participate in the Water For Life Strategy
A moratorium on development approvals within the Gull Lake Watershed,
Until such time that both Lacombe & Ponoka Counties create and implement an Inter-Municipal Watershed Development Management Plan
Consideration should be directly related to the long term sustainability of the watershed environment, quality and quantity of lake water and groundwater
Consideration should be directly related to acknowledging the current status of the watershed environment health; if it is healthy a benchmark should be established, if it is unhealthy specific strategies should be implemented to bring back healthy levels.
Consideration should be directly related to ongoing monitoring of the watershed environment with a review of the benchmark on reasonably regular basis
Consideration should be directly related to specifically measuring the health of the environment pre and post development on a case per case basis of approved future development initiatives

Who will be accountable for the potential degradation of Gull Lake, AB from continued development approvals in the
absence of a comprehensive strategy to watershed development management?
Can the County of Lacombe and Ponoka County continue to be progressive municipalities, while leaving behind the concerns of ratepayers and users of Gull Lake AB?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION, CONTACTS AND ARTICLE LINKS OF INTEREST:
From the office of the Premier: http://www.premier.alberta.ca/pics/Sustainable_Resource_Development.pdf
Ted Morton Draft Framework: http://www.landuse.alberta.ca/documents/Speaking\%20Notes.pdf
Water For Life AB Environment: http://www.waterforlife.gov.ab.ca/docs/strategyNov03.pdf
Renewed Water For Life Press Release: http://www.alberta.ca/home/NewsFrame.cfm?ReleaseID=/acn/200811/24791B5911E38-9CC7-EB78-5CA0ECE137D35FD8.html
Renewed Water For Life Strategy: http://environment.gov.ab.ca/info/library/8035.pdf
Lacombe County Municipal Development Plan 2007: http://www.lacombecounty.com/dept_planning/mdp.php
Gull Lake Management Plan 2000: http://www.lacombecounty.com/dept_planning/gull_mp2000.php
The appendices of this plan provided a lot of additional information that should be reviewed
Lacombe County Long Range Plan: http://www.lacombecounty.com/content/content_main/news/LongRangePlanningProgram.pdf
Ponoka County Development: http://www.ponokacounty.com/Default.aspx?tabid=270
Highlight of some Proposed and Approved Developments:
Sandy Point potential of 2,695 lots: http://www.lacombecounty.com/dept_planning/SandyPoint.php
Wilsons Beach Estates potential of 88 lots: http://www.lacombecounty.com/dept_planning/wilsonsbeachestates.php
DeGraff Development 100 lots and potential of 400 more lots: http://www.lacombecounty.com/dept_planning/degraff.php
Goehring Development 47 lots: http://www.lacombecounty.com/dept_planning/goehring.php
Lakeview Estates: Sigurdson Development 26 lots, Kuipers Development 6 lots
Westlake Estates 151 lots: http://www.westlakeestates.ca/content/WestlakeEstates-subdivision.pdf
Buffalo Lake Integrated Shoreland Management Plan (BLISMP): http://www.blmt.ca/blismp.htm
Healthy Shorelines, Vincent Lake AB: http://www.healthyshorelines.com/
Pigeon Lake Watershed Association: http://www.pigeonlakewatershedassociation.com/Stewardship
ALMS (Alberta Lake Management Society) http://alms.ca/
Sierra Club Prairie Water: http://www.sierraclub.ca/prairie/files/prairiewater.pdf
Alberta Environment, Best Management Practices: http://environment.alberta.ca/3.html
Lake Stewardship Reference Guide: http://www.albertasummervillages.org/lsreference.html
Gull Lake Life Blog: http://gulllakelife.blogspot.com/
Gull Lake Life Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42829904017

CONTACTS: You may choose to send an email letter to any of these individuals to express your comments and/or concerns:
Lacombe County Division 5 Council Representative: Ken Wigmore: [email protected]
Ponoka County Division 3 Council Representative: George Verheire: [email protected]
Ray Prins, MLA: [email protected]
Honourable Rob Renner, Minister of Environment: [email protected]
Honourable Ted Morton, Minister of Sustainable Resource Development: [email protected]
Editor, Lacombe Globe: [email protected]
News, Sunny 94.1 FM: [email protected]
Red Deer Advocate, Laura Tester: [email protected]
Red Deer Advocate, Paul Cowley: [email protected]
Red Deer Advocate, Stacy Obrien: [email protected]
Red Deer Advocate, Heather Schultz: [email protected]
Edmonton CTV News: [email protected]
Calgary CTV News: [email protected]
Editor, Calgary Herald: [email protected]
News, Edmonton Journal: [email protected]
Ponoka News: http://www.albertalocalnews.com/contact_us/?curSection=\%2Fponokanews&returnPath=\%2Fponokanews\%2F&c=y
Rimbey Review: http://www.albertalocalnews.com/contact_us/?curSection=\%2Frimbeyreview&returnPath=\%2Frimbeyreview\%2F&c=y