PUBLIC WORKS
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
Development Services facilitated quality development and includes:
Planning: Responsible for Intermunicipal Planning, Statutory Plans, Outline Plans and Subdivision Approval
•Annexation became effective on January 1, 2001 after approximately 3 years of effort
•Intermunicipal Development Plan finalized for adoption by both the City and County of Grande Prairie in early 2001
•Processed 34 subdivision applications
•Four Area Structure Plans underway in each quadrant of the City
•Hidden Valley Area Structure Plan adopted
•Flyingshot Lake Outline Plan adopted
Development: Development applications, Home based Business applications, Zoning and Commercial Advertising sign permits and administration of the Land Use Bylaw.Development Services:
Redesigned all Development Permit Application Forms to be computer based and eliminate printing costs. Available on the City's Web Site, they are user friendly with checkboxes to eliminate repetitive information. The forms comply with FOIP Legislation
•Redesigned Compliance Certificates with input from the Grande Prairie Bar Association.
•Building Inspector now issues Development Permits for Single Family Dwellings resulting in "One-Stop
Shopping" for residential home builders
•Reviewed and issued approximately 595 Development Permit Applications, 850 Compliance Certificates,
160 Sign Permits, 100 Home Occupation Permits
Engineering: Ensures Quality Infrastructure for Development.
•14 Servicing Agreements entered into, worth approximately $ 5 million in municipal infrastructure
•Completed over 250 Construction Completion & Final Acceptance Certificates
•Completion and adoption of the "Standard Guidelines for Design & Development of Municipal
Improvements" manual
Inspection: Administers Safety Codes for commercial and residential building, plumbing, gas and electrical.
•Issued 701 building permits, 305 for Single Family Dwellings (SFD's), total of 391 residential units
were created, 117 building permits issused for commercial/industrial, 20 permits for institutional projects
•Construction values for SFD'S $ 33,377,245. Values for Commercial/Industrial $23,641,145. Values for
Institutional $ 20,588,237
•Total construction values $84,261,433
•Large projects include: St. Joe's School - $12,3838,000, Best Western Motel - $2,449,000, Centre 2000 -
$2,400,000, CO-OP Foodstore - $2,726,200, Save On Foods - $3,747,100, North Fire Hall - $1,172,480,
South Fire Hall - $2,448,310
FLEET SYSTEMS
Fleet Systems handles all the City's Fleet (vehicles and equipment) maintenance and inventory as well as bulk water sales. Fleet takes care of approximately 250 pieces of equipment including Transit units, RCMP, and Fire Department units. Approximately $900,000.00 is spent annually on the purchase of new equipment and another $3.4 million on the upkeep and maintenance of the Fleet. The Fleet is valued at $13 million.
•Completed 3,400 work orders
•Developed a Downtown basket watering system with Parks improving cost effectiveness and enhancing safety
PARKS
Parks Operations is responsible for the beautification of outdoor spaces through maintenance and enhancement of the City's green spaces, including parks, utility lots, other open spaces and the City cemetery. Services include mowing and turf management, tree maintenance, pest control, weed control, sanitation (litter pick up on green spaces), outdoor ice rinks, beautification including flower beds, hanging baskets, planters, shrubs festive lighting/banners etc. downtown and around City facilities, and long term planning for future green space development.
•The Parks Department played a key role in assisting the G.P. Communities in Bloom Committee
to win a provincial award for the City of Grande Prairie
•The Alberta Summer Games was successfully staged at several sportfields that Parks played a key
role in preparing
•The G.P. Soccer Club completed their field house and have entered into a cooperative maintenance
program with Parks to jointly maintain their sportfields at this location
•New playgrounds were added in the Mountview neighbourhood and at the Macklin Field to replace
aging older equipment. The Parks Improvement Program also provided funding to assist 4 other
community associations that upgraded 4 other playground sites in the City
•A Parks weed inspection program was re-established in the City and shared jointly with Protective
Services
•An innovative watering system was developed jointly by Parks and Fleet and was used to water
downtown hanging baskets
•Master plans for both the Parks System and the Grande Prairie Cemetery are nearing completion
and will be presented in early 2001
•Council adopted the North Bear Creek Urban Park Plan providing a framework for extension of
the Urban Park in the future
TRANSIT 
Major service enhancements went into effect in August. Service was provided on Sunday and Statutory Holidays (9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). Evening service is provided Monday through Saturday. An additional route was added to the system. The "School Pass" introduced in January 2000 became available to elementary, junior & senior high school students. For $20.00 the pass can be used from 7:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. on school days only.
•Service expansion resulted in a 14% increase in hours of service
•Sale of monthly passes increased by 36%
•Farebox revenue increased by 6%
•Highest revenue ridership year - 418,668 riders
TRANSPORTATION SERVICES 
The Transportation Services (Field Operations) handles maintenance and repairs to roads, lanes, sidewalks, traffic signals and signs, snow removal, street cleaning, dust control, potholes, and storm drainage. The Transportation Services (Technical Group) handles traffic safety, roadway, bridge, storm sewer and sidewalk design, construction and rehabilitation, approval of utility alignments and excavations, access to property, traffic signal co-ordination and installation.
• January/February - spill control on the Bypass. Two weeks were spent cleaning up 3,000 gallons of
glue resin out of our storm system and Bear Creek in weather averaging -30 degrees
• Supplied traffic control and paving around the Legion Track for the 2000 Games
• June - assisted in brush fire control in Bear Creek
• June - twenty-four hour non-stop replacement of railway crossing on 108 street minimizing impact on traffic
• October - opened the twinning of 84 avenue (from 100 street to Mission Heights Drive) to traffic
• Transportation Master Plan update began to address the long term transportation needs of the City
UTILITY SERVICES
• Completed financial analysis on feasibility of forming a for-profit corporation and received Council approval
of the concept in late 2000
Water and Wastewater Operations:
• There were no incidents as a result of Y2K
• Installed re-chlorination system at Zone II Pumphouse
• Completed the Filtration Upgrade Project
• Completed the Activated Sludge/Biological Nutrient Removal project in October providing improved waste
water treatment
• Treated water flows to the City showed an increase of approximately 5%
• Completed a wholesale upgrade to our bulk water facilities at the City Service Center from one 75mm
outlet to two 100mm and one 50mm outlets. A new vending system was also installed to improve customer
service and accounting efficiency
• Installed new water and sewer lines to the new Center 2000 building as part of the City's "in-kind" contribution
Landfill Operations
• Successfully applied approximately 9,135 tonnes of sludge. This saved the City significant expenditure for land
application of sludge and cover soil at the landfill
• Convinced Alberta Environment to amend the license to convert the landfill from a strict "disposal location" to
a "Waste Management/Treatment Facility"
• Initiated a joint research project with the University of Alberta and Weyerhaeuser to validate the concept of
using a landfill as bioreactor to break down solid waste anaerobically. If proven successful, this concept will
allow the City to extend the life of the landfill
Waste Reduction
•New recycling contract negotiated with Recycle Plus including adding #5 plastics, combining newspaper and office
paper bins and re-glazing the collection bins
•Two new materials added to Eco Centre collection: used cooking oil and nickel-cadmium batteries
•Christmas Tree Mulch held in January
•Commercial Cardboard Diversion Program implemented on October 1. Nine cardboard bins were located at
businesses throughout the City. Initial results at the end of the year showed a 50% increase in the amount of
cardboard being brought to Recycle Plus
• Residential recycling: 1190 tonnes - no increase
•Commercial recycling: 1813 tonnes - 31% increase
• Total program: 3003 tonnes - 17% increase
Waste Collection
• Composter sale held on May 6
• Over 400 tonnes of grass and leaves were collected at the Eco Centre for composting
• Household Toxic Round-ups were held on June 10 and September 30. 596 vehicles dropped off waste in June and 385 in the fall, representing a 3% annual increase