The water tower in the town of Rocky Mountain House will be torn down at the end of the year because of construction on a new helipad at the local hospital.
“It’s a big deal for our community,” Rocky Mountain House CAO Todd Becker said.
The helipad was one of the first in the province to be upgraded to accommodate the new larger STARS Air Ambulance helicopters. Rocky Mountain House was chosen because it’s located a long way from major centres and the area is frequented by a number of Albertans taking part in outdoor activities.
Originally, the town was told by Alberta Health Services its historic water tower – which also houses communication equipment – would only require lights to make it safe for helicopters to land. But in June, Transport Canada stepped in and the town was told major changes would be needed.
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“One of the options is to paint the water tower in an orange and white checker board pattern and remove our emblems from the tower,” Becker said.
“Another one is to relocate the tower and maintain it as a landmark the other option is to demolish the tower.”
Town council said the most feasible option would be to tear down the structure. AHS has agreed to fund the removal, as well as movement of the equipment to a new location, but there’s frustration over the removal of what Becker calls a landmark.
“About 15 to 20 years ago, the town decommissioned the water tower and ever since then they’ve used it as a landmark for the community with the town emblem,” he explained.
“The town was not included in the original scope of the heliport project,” Becker added.
AHS said it wasn’t aware that the changes would be needed until the project was almost complete.
“It came to light after the fact in conversations with Transport Canada that there was that obstruction with the flight path and that’s when we started having the discussions with the community about that particular aspect,” Kerry Bales, the senior vice president of the Central Zone with AHS, said.
“At the time, there was an understanding that the lights were all that was required to illuminate the tower,” said Bales, who added AHS relied on its contractors and partners to update them on what was necessary.
“It came to light after the fact that that was a mistake,” Bales said.
The demolition of the water tower and moving the equipment is expected to cost around $430,000.
The town hopes to have the water tower removed by the end of the year and has conducted a survey to find a new landmark.
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