The next step in construction of the Alberta Public Security and Law Enforcement Training Centre took place Monday when Fort Macleod council approved a development permit for the $122-million project.
Approval of the application from Bird Construction Co. came almost six years to the day since the province announced Fort Macleod would be the site of what came to be known as the police college.
“It’s been a long haul,” Coun. Susan Koots said.
The application came before council because the land is zoned direct control and the development permit needed council’s approval.
The training centre will cover about 340 acres donated to the project by the Town of Fort Macleod 2.1 kilometres south of town just off Highway 2.
It is anticipated that when the training centre opens in September 2014, close to 1,400 police and peace officer recruits will be trained each year in Fort Macleod.
Mayor Shawn Patience said the project will generate immediate benefits to Fort Macleod, beginning with the jobs created over the two-year construction period.
Later, full-time jobs at the training centre will aid the economy, along with the influx of cash each class of recruits will bring to Fort Macleod.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the benefits the training centre project will bring to Fort Macleod, the mayor added.
“This project will identify Fort Macleod as a place to invest,” Patience said Monday. “It will give people that confidence.”
Patience said the recent positive exposure Fort Macleod has received from the training centre has already attracted the attention of potential developers.
“We have developers talking to us all the time,” said Patience, who due to confidentiality could not release any names of those developers or their companies.
Now that the training centre project is moving ahead quickly, council is working to put Fort Macleod in position to capitalize on any opportunities for growth.
“Our goal now is to make sure we’ve got property for them,” Patience said of people interested in setting up businesses or building new homes in the community.
Council is aware that growth must be planned with care.
“Part of what people like about Fort Macleod is that small town thing,” Patience said. “We want to make sure we don’t lose that.”
