Lethbridge Minute: Issue 285

Lethbridge Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Lethbridge politics

📅 This Week In Lethbridge: 📅

• The Community Issues Committee meets tomorrow at 1:30 pm, and one of the items on the agenda is a quarterly update on the City's encampment strategy covering April through June. The report says overall encampment activity and 311 calls have fallen 65% since last year, with confirmed encampments down 60% from 460 to 186 and coordinated cleanups down 30%. At the same time, remaining encampments are becoming fewer but larger and more complex, with the highest-risk Tier 3 sites making up 29% of the total and their average risk score rising from 3 to 4.5 as more are found with weapons, biohazards and illicit substances. Administration links a shift of encampments north and west to the closure of the Henderson Pathways transitional housing program, a 90-bed facility on Mayor Magrath Drive, and reports that 97% of Tier 3 sites are now clustered near the Lethbridge shelter and resource centre. Outreach referrals rose 68% year over year, led by a 325% increase in medical supports and a 173% increase in addiction and mental health referrals. 
  
  
• Also before the Community Issues Committee tomorrow at 1:30 pm is a financial update from Excite Lethbridge, the events organization that runs on a City operating grant and is required to report its finances to Council each month. Excite recorded an operating deficit of $337,169 in April and a further loss of $208,266 in May, which Chief Executive Kim Gallucci attributes to the second quarter being the slowest event period while the organization pays deposits for events whose revenue will not arrive until later in the year. On an operations basis the cumulative balance over the five months to the end of May was a positive $35,061, but once the carrying costs of the old pavilions are added the combined figure is a loss of $145,367. Gallucci reported that the operating grant balance stood at $503,797 in May after a transfer of $87,891 for cash flow, an amount that includes $195,000 held in a guaranteed investment certificate to back a letter of credit for payment processing. Excite says a full-year forecast should be ready for the September Committee meeting. 
  
  
• At its meeting tomorrow, the Community Issues Committee will also receive an update on the downtown protected bike lanes on 4 Avenue South and 7 Street South, which became operational in late 2023 and mid-2024. City figures put summer cycling at between 2.2% and 3.6% of trips in those corridors, up from 1.3% in the previous household travel survey but still short of the 5% target set for 2029. Maintenance cost about $26,600 in 2024 and about $41,500 in 2025, paid from existing operating accounts. The project removed 28 parking stalls in total, six on 4 Avenue South and 22 on 7 Street South, though the City says 11 stalls have since been added or restored, cutting the net loss to 17. Administration also removed precast lane blocks from 58 stalls to improve sidewalk access and reports no adverse effect on collision rates, noting that speeds along both streets have dropped to 40 km/h.
  
  
• Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services has received $42,160 from the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta to develop a wildfire preparedness plan and a sprinkler deployment plan for the city. The plans focus on protecting critical infrastructure and improving readiness in vulnerable urban fringe areas and neighbouring parts of Lethbridge County, mapping wind patterns, building materials, proximity to the wildland-urban interface and water availability. Fire and EMS Chief Greg Adair says the work strengthens the service's ability to protect important infrastructure and improve response readiness. The grant builds on earlier steps, including a wildland sprinkler trailer added in 2025. Officials note that southern Alberta faces longer fire seasons, dry conditions and strong winds, and that Lethbridge's coulee terrain and limited hydrant access can complicate response.
  
  
• The Whoop-Up Drive and Scenic Drive interchange improvement project moved into its fifth phase on Friday, expanding one block north along the east side of the 300 block of Scenic Drive South and adding new streetlights. Both northbound driving lanes on Scenic Drive are to remain open, and work on the project's earlier phases continues at the same time. The City says the full interchange project is scheduled for completion in November 2026.

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