Strategic planning remains a priority for the board of directors at the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce, says president and CEO Lynda Moffat.
The comments came Wednesday as Moffat presented the second annual chamber report at a chamber luncheon at Apex Casino.
The report speaks to projects and issues the Chamber worked on in the past 12 months. Among them was the first Big Issue Roundtable held in April 2012.
"The thought was that we wanted to bring in speakers to educate our board on key issues. So why not invite other community leaders and the government members to come to our sessions and hear the same information," she said.
"The response from those attending has been very positive and several new actions were undertaken by our board and staff because of the roundtable sessions."
One of those new projects led to the creation of the Villeneuve Airport Regional Task Force.
The task force influenced economic growth at the airport and helped in appointing it as an alternate landing site for medevac services, Moffat said.
“There were some members of parliament who thought the Namao Air Base should be resurrected and that should be the alternate landing site,” she said.
“But we knew if we didn’t get it at Villeneuve the runway extension and other things that this airport needs so badly would not come about.”
Moffat said the Task Force now hopes to become a part of the strategic planning group for Villeneuve airport, pending approval by airport authorities.
In working with St. Albert city council, the chamber also pushed the creation of a functional planning study for an LRT extension to North St. Albert, Moffat said.
“This planning is critical so further development in St. Albert would take place in an orderly manner with the lands required for the extension designated as such,” she said.
“And we are very pleased to see that our city council approved the start of the functional planning process just recently and we look forward to seeing this planning being put in place.”
In the future, Moffat said the chamber plans to bring in a panel of speakers to the Big Issue Roundtable to address the challenges of inter-municipal cooperation.
Moffat said businesses depend on stability and collaboration among municipalities and the board of directors appointed the chamber to take a lead role in bringing local communities back together.
Other key issues for the next year are the greening of the chamber and the beautification of the brownfield site on St. Albert Trail across from the St. Albert Inn.
The site was the former home of a Texaco gas station. Thanks to donations of money, material and time by the local business community, the site is expected to be turned into a park by the end of the summer.
