Hello from the executive! This year has been tough sledding because of the COVID pandemic, and we hope you are coping. Nobody knows how much longer this is going to go on, or whether it gets worse before it gets better. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. You can call 211 or www.ab.211.ca to connect with community and social services.
Our staff have been working really hard to open the community center as much as possible, while respecting the guidelines from the various authorities. The spacing requirements make this extremely difficult, and requirements can change on short notice. We are investigating improvements to our HVAC system for better air quality. ‘Summer hours’ will continue into the fall until further notice.
None the less, we are moving forward with planning September events at the community center. We hope to see you there!
Fall Fair: September 12. This will be an outdoor event similar to previous Family Fun Days.
Community Clean-Up: September 19. We will be restricting the number of cars in the parking lot at one time to make it easier to maintain social distancing. There will be no swap table, so everything you bring will go into one of the bins. Please check our website for the most current requirements. As well, many of you will be coming up on your community membership renewal. You should get a notification by email, but please do check before your visit to the cleanup.
Community Garage Sale: September 26. This has been an indoor event, and we are discussing our options. We may need to bring articles in early for quarantine, and we will almost certainly have to restrict the number of people in the hall.
Octoberfest: October 3. After some consultation between our staff, the event organizer, and several of the regular attendees, we have reluctantly decided to cancel the event for this year.
For all of these, please check our website or Facebook page for the most current news. We may be forced to make changes on short notice and ask for your understanding.
We recently had a volunteer come forward to work on issues related to community planning and other civic affairs. Linda Mulligan has many years of experience working for the City in the Urban Planning group and needed all of it to keep up with the discussions. It has been an extremely busy summer for her reading a great many long and complicated documents and attending long Zoom meetings.
There are changes coming to how the City does Community Planning. There are no immediate plans to redevelop Woodcreek, but we are not that far down the list. The executive and Board will be reaching out to the community to gather your input on changes you would like to see, or perhaps more to the point, the changes you don’t want to see. It will be really important to respond, as community associations are sometimes accused of acting on personal motives, and not representing their communities. We are working with other nearby communities to coordinate a survey on planning issues.
Keith Cartmell
2nd VP