The Summer Village of Horseshoe Bay has received a Alberta Community Partnership Grant of $200,000 to prepare Alberta's Iron Horse Trail Staging Area Development Plans. The work performed must result in regional design and site plans for the development of recreational staging areas for Alberta's Iron Horse Trail (AIHT) across multiple municipalities in Northeast Alberta, to create consistent Regional Design Pans that will allow the regional to expand tourism visitations and opportunities. The Scope of work for the Proponent (Summer Village of Horseshoe Bay) and project partners must include: 1. Project Kick off (1 month): This will involve confirming the project scope and timeline, identifying the project team, and establishing project guidelines, including communication and dispute resolution mechanisms. 2. Assess status of staging areas and mapping (3 months): This stage will involve understanding the existing infrastructure, amenities, and themes at the nine identified priority staging areas (Waskatenau, Smoky Lake, St. Paul, Elk Point, Heinsburg, Bonnyville, Ardmore, Beaver River Trestle, and Cold Lake). This assessment is crucial for informing project development. 3. Identify standard infrastructure and amenity requirements (3 months): Based on trail uses and user needs, standard requirements for facilities, lighting, access, OHV unloading, secure storage, site control, and other identified needs will be determined to ensure consistency in services and amenities across the sites. 4. Create consistent designs for the standard staging elements (3 months): A consistent design or theme for these standard staging elements will be developed to ensure uniformity across all nine staging areas. 5. Identify community elements unique for their site (3 months): While maintaining a consistent theme, unique elements reflecting each community's geography, access, and personality will be identified to make each visitor experience exclusive. Residents and stakeholders in partnering municipalities will be engaged in this process at no cost to the municipality. 6. Budget (3 months): A budget will be developed for each site, including infrastructure and servicing costs for all identified elements in each site plan. This budget will inform future funding applications. 7. Implementation Plans (3 months): Shovel-ready project plans will be created for each site. These plans will include details on infrastructure and amenities, servicing requirements, budgets, timelines, costing, and guidelines for consistent development. 8. Final Reporting (3 months): This will involve the delivery of the nine AIHT staging area plans and the completion of all final reporting requirements for the grant. The expected outputs and results of this work include no less than nine fully developed consistent staging area plans of the priority staging areas that are aligned with an overall theme but acknowledge the uniqueness of each community. The resulting staging area plans will enable communities to access Travel Alberta Product Development funding for infrastructure and capital costs for design execution. This project aims to build upon the Alberta Iron Horse Trail as an anchor for tourism development within the Northeast Lakelands Tourism Development Zone, contributing to the growth of the tourism industry in the region.
