Community News

Wildlife Affected Area Designation Lifted

The City of Calgary has advised the DRCA that they will be lifting the Wildlife Affected Area designation for Discovery Ridge tomorrow, November 15th. While this means the bylaw will not be in effect, we strongly encourage all residents to handle their bins and food waste with great care and consideration for wildlife and resident safety at all times. 

Here are the full details on the WAA designation being lifted from the City:

Wildlife Affected Area Designation

As per the DRCA member email that was sent earlier today, The City of Calgary has advised the DRCA that they have enacted the Wildlife Affected Area (WAA) designation for Discovery Ridge, as of today.

As a result, effective immediately, all households must:

  • Store their waste in a garage, shed or secure enclosure. This applies to all carts and extra bags of yard waste or tag-a-bag garbage.
  • Put bins out for pick up after 5am and return to secured storage no later than 7pm on collection days.

***During the time the WAA designation is in place, bin collection times will not begin until 9am on pick up days.***

Full details from the City:

In addition to DRCA communication channels, the City will be advising residents thought the Garbage Day App, Ward 6 office, Website, Media/Social Media and a card will be mailed to every DR household today.

Residential Waste and Wildlife in DR

PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!

It is the height of bear season and there are many out and about in and around our special community as well as in Griffith Woods. This includes a mama bear and her cubs. They are in search of food before winter hibernation and if food is made available to them within the community, they will find it.

It is the responsibility of us all to ensure these special animals do not become habituated to residential waste. Bears will get into bins with scents or food items in them if the bins are outside. Please ensure bins are not put out until the morning of pickup and are secured and not accessible to bears or other wildlife at this critical time.

Music in the Park This Saturday

The Discovery Ridge Community Association and David Pelletier are excited to once again bring you MUSIC IN THE PARK!

Details:
Saturday, September 7th
3:00pm – 7:00pm
@ the Discovery Ridge Recreation Facility Green Space

Grab a chair or blanket and bring the whole family to join in on the fun!

  • Live Music (See list of performers below)
  • Beer/Wine Garden
  • Food Trucks

Entry is FREE for DRCA members and their families. Non-members will be asked to make a donation, in an amount of their choosing, or purchase their household $25 DRCA annual membership at the gate.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: These events take help. Please contact Lillian at volunteer@discoveryridge.com to volunteer selling beer/wine tickets from 3-5pm or 5-7pm!
It’s an easy, fun job! We’ll assist you in setting up the Square App for selling. Thank you!!!

We are incredibly grateful for all of the support Music In The Park receives from our community! Without this remarkable group of individuals and businesses we would not have the outstanding event that we do.

Thank you to David Pellettier, RE/MAX First, who has been our Lead Sponsor since our inaugural event in 2016.

As well, a huge thank you to our current Friends of Music In The Park:

We’re excited to present an amazing lineup of musicians for Music in the Park! Check them out:

3:00-400 — The Syndicate of Soul: facebook.com/TheOriginalSyndicateOfSoul
4:00-4:30 — Robert Seer: songwhip.com/robertseer/my-backyard
4:30-5:30 — The Corazones: corazones.ca and facebook.com/dascorazones
5:30-6:00 — Paul Saks: facebook.com/PaulSaksMusician
6:00-700 — Dangerous Goods: dgoods.mystrikingly.com and facebook.com/dgoodsband/

Memberships

All DRCA annual memberships expired on August 31st. If you have not done so already, please renew online at: discoveryridge.com/membership.

In addition to many other things, the DRCA:

  • maintains the ice rinks, tennis and pickleball courts, and the rec facility green space
  • represents Discovery Ridge community concerns and initiatives and collaborates with the City of Calgary, Province of Alberta, and all levels of elected representatives when required
  • organizes events for residents to come together and enjoy, such as Stampede Roundup and Music in the Park

DID YOU KNOW? A major potion of the DRCA operating funds has to go to insurance policies and mandatory not-for-profit annual financial audits. The fixed costs for community associations are a huge commitment. Membership matters!

Noise Matters Update

We have been advised that, thanks to our MLA, the Hon. Mike Ellis, advocating on behalf of Discovery Ridge, a Ring Road noise study will be completed this month. Here is the information provided to us:

“On behalf of the Honourable Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, I am able to provide the following information.

Noise attenuation along the Calgary Ring Road is constructed only where warranted based on provincial guidelines. A copy of the noise guidelines can be found here. To date, warranted noise attenuation for the West and Southwest Calgary Ring Road projects has already been constructed based on the design of the road and the projected noise levels.

Although no additional noise attenuation is planned for construction adjacent to the community of Discovery Ridge at this time, as per Transportation and Economic Corridors’ post-construction plans, a noise study will soon be conducted to measure actual noise levels. The tentative scheduling of the study is targeted for September 2024. However, the specific dates are not yet confirmed. Efforts to include monitoring in some of the locations where residents or the public request monitoring will be part of the study. The department’s contractor will endeavour to test the location(s) that will yield the loudest results for evaluation against Transportation and Economic Corridors’ guidelines.

The results of the noise monitoring study will inform if and where additional noise mitigation may be considered for construction. I can confirm that department staff continue to work with the highway maintenance contractor to review noise concerns and will be finalizing the location(s) in the near future.

Should your constituents have any further questions on this matter, please feel free to have them contact Mr. Nathan Lau, Operations Engineer. Mr. Lau can be reached at 403-297-4742, or at nathan.lau@gov.ab.ca.”

Music in the Park

The Discovery Ridge Community Association and David Pellettier bring you Music In The Park! Join us on Saturday, September 7, 2024, from 3 pm – 7 pm at Discovery Ridge field (next to the rink and tennis courts). Come along for an incredible afternoon filled with live music featuring the best of 60s and 70s Soul and Motown, classic rock hits, as well as pop, blues, and country tunes. Bring your lawn chairs and blankets, gather with friends and neighbours, and savour drinks from our curated beer and wine garden along with delicious bites from YYC Food Trucks. We can’t wait to see you there!

Current DRCA members will receive free entry as part of their membership privileges. Memberships are household memberships, so bring the whole family! This year, non-DRCA members will be asked for a donation for entry rather than being charged a set fee. The donation amount will be at the attendee’s discretion. In addition to our sponsors’ most generous support, these donations will assist with the ever-increasing costs of running this event. Alternately, if plan to attend and you are a Discovery Ridge resident but are not currently a DRCA member, consider purchasing a $25 annual membership today! If you have questions regarding your DRCA membership status, our Membership Director can answer your questions after August 21 at membership@discoveryridge.com. Thank you!

Discovery Heights Pond Update

The following information was first published via DRCA membership email.

The City of Calgary has advised us of the following:

“City construction crew will mobilize to the Discovery Heights Pond site to start the pond outlet modification work this week. As mentioned in our April 25 meeting, a lower pond level must be maintained to improve public safety. The modification is the short-term solution to replace the current pumping.”

Noise Matters

The following information was first published via DRCA membership email.

We have noticed the increase in resident concerns regarding noise from, and because of, the Ring Road. For those newer to the community, the DRCA engaged with the Provincial government, and Alberta Transportation (AT) in particular, on an ongoing basis from as far back as 2013 before the Ring Road construction near DR even began. For 10+years a dedicated and vigilant group of volunteers on the DRCA Ring Road Committee advocated for the best interests of our special community, including sound attenuation measures. This included several trips to Edmonton to meet with various Ministers and AT Senior staff.

There were some major successes the DRCA Committee achieved including:

  • Having the eastbound lanes paved further away from the northern edge of our community than they were planned to be.
  • Getting the earthen berm installed that runs most, but not all, of the length of the community, from 69th Street heading west.
  • Having AT leave at least some of the trees east of 69th Street, when they initially intended to remove them all.

There was no movement from AT to:

  • Change their refusal to implement sound attenuation measures at Jackson Coulee (nicknamed Funnel Ravine by the nearby residents).
  • Change their refusal to implement sound attenuation measures east of 69th Street.
  • Change their refusal to implement sound attenuation measures at the west end of the community.
  • Use City of Calgary noise measurement standards not Provincial standards.

That final point is likely the most notable at this time as we hear of residents working hard to have testing done with the hope of changes being made. Why has this been such an important request for the DRCA to strongly advocate and fight for all along? Because the City of Calgary standards use peak period noise whereas the Provincial standards are far harder to “fail” as they use 24-hour weighted averages. This is the narrowest corridor of the entire Ring Road project thereby placing the road and exit ramps closer to homes. Also, Discovery Ridge is within the City limits so we deemed using the City standards more than reasonable in the circumstances. This was always refused and is still refused.

Specifically from the Ring Road website:
Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors’ noise guidelines outline the conditions for noise attenuation in cities and urban areas. Noise attenuation will be considered if noise levels exceed a 24-hour weighted average of 65 decibels. These noise levels are determined by noise studies that consider roadway design, topography and anticipated traffic volumes to model, or predict, future levels. The future noise levels are used to determine if noise attenuation is warranted based on the provincial noise guidelines. Noise attenuation will not be installed for aesthetic/visual screening purposes.

In simple terms, this means that what the noise level measured at for the loudest 1 hour period is what would be used by City standards, vs the quiet times of a 24-hour average watering down the loudest times to a point whereby it would be incredibly difficult for the noise levels to fail by the Provincial standards being used.

We hope this background and information is helpful and useful to residents as they work to advocate for support and change.