Everyone on hand for the sod turning

By Aaron Mahoney

Coaldale RCMP

Sod turning ceremony held at site for new Coaldale RCMP Detachment

Jun 11, 2019 | 9:53 AM

COALDALE, AB – While the new Coaldale RCMP detachment’s building itself is still a little way away from being built, that hasn’t dimmed the excitement for officials involved in the process.

Representatives from the Alberta RCMP, Lethbridge County and the Town of Coaldale gathered for a symbolic sod-turning ceremony to kick-off the much-awaited construction of the new Coaldale RCMP detachment on Monday, June 10.

The Coaldale RCMP Detachment building construction contract was awarded at the cost of nearly $12 million to Pomerleau Inc. out of Calgary on May 17, and it will be built on the east end of Coaldale off Highway 3.

The new detachment will be made up of municipal and provincial detachment personnel and specialized regional units including Traffic Services, Police Dog Services and Forensics. The construction is scheduled to begin this summer and is anticipated to be complete in 2021.

Week-in-review: Property taxes, training doctors and changes to WestJet service

May 18, 2024

What's Happening in Lethbridge this weekend: May 17, 2024

May 17, 2024

Week-in-review: A spring storm, Whoop-Up Days entertainment and housing for seniors

May 11, 2024

Shovels will soon be the ground for real

Mayor Kim Craig says they couldn’t be more delighted to see this project moving ahead.

“A lot of men and women in the service will be providing higher visibility of policing to our community, and the fact that it’s finally happening is exciting,” he continued. “We engaged the RCMP in 2016, and now we’re in mid-2019, and finally the construction is going. It’s a big relief to see things starting to happen.”

Craig said the importance of the event was to show how long Coaldale has waited since initially engaging the RCMP about the project.

“We were hopeful that the sod would be turned, and the building would be well underway by now, so in our mind, we’re a little bit behind schedule in our build. When you have a delay like that, there’s always the nagging thought in the back of your head about if this is going to be another Fort MacLeod situation where someone cancels the project, but today is reality,” Craig said, adding they’re moving forward and it’s going to happen.

The RCMP began policing Coaldale in January of 2016 under a new municipal policing contract. Plans at that time included the construction of a new detachment building to not only house the Coaldale Detachment but also provide facilities for regional policing services.

The new facility will not only add to Coaldale’s overall enhanced emergency services but will also provide the RCMP with a more accessible regional facility in this part of southern Alberta.