Happy New Year McKenzie Towne!
It’s that time of year again, where our ponds freeze over and people think it’s safe to be cutting across them. These storm ponds are very dangerous to be on, because they drain from beneath the surface. This means that the surface can appear solid but will have spots that are weakened by the water level changing beneath the ice (even in our very cold winters). Here is a blurb provided by the city.
“Storm ponds are not intended for recreational use. The water in storm ponds is constantly flowing with fluctuating water levels and contains pollutants. For the health and safety of the public several activities are prohibited – including, swimming, skating, boating, fishing, and fish stocking.
Storm ponds are natural looking, man-made facilities, designed to collect runoff, following either a rainfall or snowmelt event. Besides helping to mitigate local flooding, the 200 plus ponds that the City currently operates and maintains, improves the quality of water that eventually reaches the rivers.
Storm ponds (or wet ponds) collect water and run-off from the storm water system, trapping sediment and pollutants such as, oils and chemicals from driveways and roadways, fertilizer, pesticides, and sediments and debris, from roads and underdeveloped areas, helping return cleaner water to rivers and streams. These ponds are a vital part of Calgary’s storm water system.
For more information, please visit calgary.ca/stormpond.”
Please tell your children about the dangers of playing near the pond (especially children attending McKenzie Highlands School), and model good behaviour by staying away from the edges.
The MTCA hosted our first Festival of Lights last month, and we were very happy with what a hit it was! We had over a hundred people vote, and everyone enjoyed having the list of houses to go see in our community. We received a grant from the Ward 12 office to support this event, so a big thank you to them for helping make it such a huge success.
Coming up next month in February, we will be hosting an online auction to help with fundraising for the MTCA. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram for more information regarding this event as it becomes available. If you are able to donate items to the MTCA for the auction, please reach out to us at [email protected]. Every bit helps, and all money raised from this event will go directly back into our community events and outreach program.
Currently, most of our funding comes from memberships. Memberships are only $10 a year, per household, and help us run our Board and our community outreach programs. In the four and a half years I have been on the Board, we have yet to have over 100 members. McKenzie Towne has a population of over 18,000 people and over 7000 households. That means less than two percent of our community households are participating as paying members each year! If we could get at least three percent participation, that would provide over $2,000 per year in available funds and would be enough to cover operating costs, without further depleting our small reserve.
For more information, and to become a member, please visit our website at http://www.mckenzietowneca.com/memberships/. We really need your help! To all those that have become members over the holidays, thank you, and you are appreciated! We are working on more membership perks to come your way. If you can’t become a member right now, following the MTCA on social media is a huge help getting us more recognition in the community. You can find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MCKTCA, and Instagram at www.instagram.com/mckenzietowneca.
Our next open meeting will be Wednesday, February 10, and will be held online. The link will be mailed to all current members and will also be posted in our Facebook group. If you are interested in participating in the meeting, but are not on our mailing list or on Facebook, please reach out to us and we will send you the link. We will have guest speakers in attendance such as, representatives from the Calgary Police Service, Shane Keating’s Ward 12 office, the City of Calgary, and other organizations. The main focus of the MTCA is to bring our community together by being the liaison between these organizations, and also by planning community events.
Please Note: We are the MTCA, not the MTC. The McKenzie Towne Council (MTC) is the board that is in control of our annual Home Owner Association (HOA) fees and they are in charge of maintaining the environment and physical amenities in McKenzie Towne.
On behalf of the Board, we wish you all a happy and healthy 2021. Feel free to reach out to us at [email protected], or to me directly at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Sarah Ferguson
