
In this section of the site we are featuring news and information about Heritage Pointe. It's our goal to show the market that we are the best agents and have extensive knowledge of the area. Read our blog which will be updated frequently, and please feel free to call us at any time on (403) 278-8899 with your questions about Heritage Pointe.



A Calgary forensic accountant and onetime Mountie says that the area is becoming a mecca for mortgage fraud. Greg Draper said that weak banking regulations, the affluent community and real estate booms render Calgary as a target for scam activity.
Draper, who works for Meyers Norris Penny, said that in Alberta, mortgages may be assumable without that pesky requirement of qualification by the banks. Consequently, the area has become a favorite territory of fraudsters. Earlier this year, an alleged scam involved $70 million and hit the Bank of Montreal. Another 22-property scheme resulted in a $12 million loss.
When the economy is booming, scam artists are better able to gain a foothold, per Draper. As real estate prices rise in general, some prices can be over-inflated with little notice.
When asked whether Calgary is a target market for mortgage fraud, Commercial Crime Unit Sgt. Michelle Hanley said that the problem exists throughout Canada. She acknowledged that her department is receiving more mortgage fraud reports, and that her department is becoming inundated with cases. Draper also said that Meyers Norris Penny has been working on more fraud-related business.
Per Draper, Alberta’s lenient mortgage rules help boost commerce but also pave the way for abuses of the system. He said that voluntary actions on the part of banks to tighten rules would force consumers to go elsewhere. Draper cited “straw buyers,” who are promised $5,000 from scammers to assume knowingly fraudulent loans. Draper said that with the promise of easy money, these buyers might be led into bankruptcy.
The latest fraud scheme involves 31-year-old Ali El-Sayed and 28-year-old Christos Fotopoulis. Both are charged with a number of counts of fraud in the amount of $5,000 and more. Police continue to seek 34-year-old Russell Kilba.
An unusually messy backyard is causing quite the furor in the tiny village of Naphtha which is just south of Black Diamond. Neighbours have been complaining for years, resulting in the owner, Frank Krieter, being ordered to clean up the property. So far most of the amalgamated mess of old unregistered cars, machinery and yard waste remains. True, a few things have been removed, but according to neighbours, it is still an eyesore.
Const. Geoff Carpenter was the official that delivered the clean up order and subsequently returned to inspect the property. Krieter would not let him into his yard to re-inspect, so charges were laid under the municipal district’s bylaws for failing to follow the order. He was fined $500 for non compliance and an additional $300 for the messy yard.
Krieter will be fighting the charges in court at the end of August, saying that the law is not legal. He is hoping a judge will throw the case out of court, since it is illegal for a municipality to govern what one does or does not own. His property is surrounded by six and eight foot fences. People would have to make an effort to look into his yard to see what was being stored. There are also tall trees and shrubs around his property, making it even more difficult to see inside.
Neighbours say his property looks like a junk yard. Krieter maintains that tinkering with old cars and trucks and selling them is his retirement hobby. At this time, it is up to the courts to decide who gets to keep what. For now the neighbourhood drama continues.
The Foothills Municipal District is on its way to approving a new development plan. It did require a bit of tweaking before councillors would approve the first reading. The controversial elements were provisions outlining how and what residents could do with their property. The original plan wanted to restrict estate-planning methods that would cause agricultural land to be partition off. Since this affected what amounts to retirement for many residents of the district, the provision was deleted.
The development plan still will prioritize agricultural use and keep residential development in check. The idea is to have three types of residential developments in the district, country zoning, cluster developments and smaller hamlet style residential district. The idea is to keep the character of the Foothills countrified. The southern part of the Foothills district has more agricultural land than the more developed north.
While residents understand the need for legislation to prevent the Foothills District from becoming wall to wall concrete, the idea that government wanted to pass legislation that could dictate the use of their land went against the grain. Most affected would have been the large landowners that may want to subdivide and sell off a portion of non-viable land.
Golfers are dreaming of a win and tournament organizers are dreaming of dramatics like last year’s. The winner of the 2009 Alberta Open at Carnmoney Golf Club was finalized on the 18th hole by one stroke.
Ryan Vallely led Ryan Yip by two strokes, but bogied on the hole while Yip eagled.
The 2010 Alberta Open will run from May 25-27 at Carnmoney. Jeff Newby, a Carnmoney member for twelve years, said the par five holes are the course’s Achilles heel as new equipment allows golfers to hit the ball farther and more accurately. The key to the tournament, according to Newby and player Karl Parrington, is playing well on par three holes.
Head pro at Carnmoney, Rob Rusznak, agreed. Rusznak said that while the par fives are outdated, the course has challenging sections for golfers. The first section is from hole five to hole seven, and the second is holes 14 to hole 17. The second hole of the course will this year be knocked from a par five to a par four.
Parrington won the Alberta Mid Amateur Championship and is looking forward to taking on the professional golfers.
Newby said his goal is to make it past the second round and end up in the final round for the first time.
Carnmoney is located east of Okotoks at Heritage Pointe on Dunbow Road.
A $2.3 million house is not a typical raffle prize, but it is exactly what Linda and Rick Firth won in the Foothills Hospital Home Lottery. The home, located in the Lake at Heritage Pointe, was constructed by Thomson Luxury Living, and is ready for occupancy. Having purchased tickets for the fundraiser for 19 consecutive years, the Firths were delighted that luck was finally on their side.
Second and third prize homes were awarded to Scott Brisson of Calgary and Darin Tocher of Red Deer County. Both of the residences were built courtesy of Motion Homes. This year’s lottery generated funds in excess of $2 million.
Another event, supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary and Area, was hosted by Jayman MasterBuilt. Henry Burris of the Calgary Stampeders joined in the fundraiser for a weekend of sports and other activities. Jayman MasterBuilt president Graham Boyce said that the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization is dependent on fundraisers to keep it in operation. The Henry Burris All-Star events included a children’s football camp, a celebrity golf outing as well as a dinner/auction to close the festivities.
Boyce said that the fundraiser was a perfect way for his company to give back to the Calgary community. He said he is a strong believer in the concept of mentoring young people who may be in need of friendship and guidance from adults.
This August will see the return of Globalfest, and the event is going to be packed with more fun than ever. Elliston Park will be the site of the Golder Associates OneWorld Festival, and the skies will be ablaze that night courtesy of Trico Homes International. Globalfest, which will run from August 20 – 28, needs volunteers. For more information, and to apply, people age 14 and older are encouraged to call 403-569-9679.
Okotoks is getting a new recreation centre and the Calgary Flames-NHL Alumni were in town to help give the project a financial boost. The One Shot at Flame hockey game featured these same alumni taking on the Dunbow All-Stars as part of a fund raising effort. The game, followed by a banquet, was held April 24th and ended up adding roughly $100,000 to the sport centre fund.
The guest speaker at the banquet was former Flame Jim Peplinski who was captain when the 1989 team took home the Stanley Cup. He covered a myriad of topics, but one that he was most enthusiastic about was letting hockey for kids stay hockey for kids.
Peplinski noted that in this modern age, kid’s hockey is becoming more like the pros, with players having to show up 90 minutes to two hours prior to the game rather than work on homework. Other kids have to choose between conflicting sport schedules. All of this can cause stress, and kids shouldn’t have to deal with that sort of thing, especially those still in elementary grades. Once kids reach 16 or 17 they have a much better understanding of what they are good at and enjoy and can then choose a sport to concentrate on.
Larry Spilak, the Foothills MD council representative said that the centre will be built despite the recent economic slump. The community wants the centre which will include not only the hockey rink, but an outdoor play area as well as a nature area with hiking and biking trails.
Oh yes, the score…Calgary Flames Alumni 16, Dunbow All-Stars 13. Just thought you’d want to know.
The Heritage Pointe fire hall is finally on the drawing board. Since the city of Calgary has already stated that it will not renew its fire contract with the MD Foothills location when the current agreement expires in 2012 that is a good thing. The MD council just approved the roughly $48,000 it will take to draw up the plans.
The council also acknowledges that time is needed to train and figure out how it wants to man the station by the contract deadline as well. A full time fire service has been ruled out but a combination of part time employees and volunteers is still on the table. The only full time employee the MD fire service has now is the fire chief.
Construction of the new hall is expected to start by 2011 with the completion anticipated to be late 2011 or early 2012, just in time to train crews and have things operational by the end of 2012. If that time table doesn’t work out, the MD council will have to try and negotiate with Calgary for another contract, which would be more expensive. Area residents would benefit from a local hall because insurance premiums would be lower.
There are four stations currently under MD Foothills jurisdiction. These are Longview, Blackie, Cayley and Priddis. Some of the foothill towns also have fire equipment owned by the district. These other stations are looking for improvements as well.
Caylery needs office space and an improved training room. Blackie needs a kitchenette and a coat of paint in the interior. The Priddis fire hall could use a full time crew and upgrades to accommodate that crew. All upgrade proposals considered, the price tag is almost $5.5 million. The MD Foothills area is growing and so are its fire service needs.
While Calgary’s housing market currently belongs to the sellers, changes to taxes and mortgage rates could amend that trend in the next few months. Stricter mortgage rules were implemented on April 19 and Harmonized Sales Tax takes effect in B.C. and Ontario on July 1, potentially cooling the market and housing prices.
According to Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), new house listings in March increased 43.3 per cent, up from 5,433 units listed last March. Condo sales for the first quarter of 2010 leaped more than 50 per cent and single-family homes rose almost 40 per cent compared to 2009’s first quarter.
From April 1 to 14, 580 single-family homes sold in Calgary for a median price for $419,900 and an average price of $457,114. While these numbers are down from a median of $423,000 and an average of $471,269 in March, they are significantly higher over March 2009. Single family homes sold at a media price of $375,000 and an average of $420,354.
In January 2009, the average MLS price for single-family homes fell to $413,049.
Condominiums have sold 276 units so far in April at a median price of $271,750 and an average of $297,940. Both numbers fell slightly from a median of $275,000 and an average of $296,660 in March 2009.
Provincial listings rose 30.8 per cent to 12,379 units in March, and sales were up 30.5 per cent to 5,351 units. The average sale price rose 10.3 per cent to $362,231.
Reading is the key to all other types of learning. And while many kids might want to spend their days in front of a computer screen with a joystick in hand, a group of students at Heritage Heights School are taking part in a read-a-thon to raise money to purchase more books for classroom library use. School libraries are covered by government budgets, individual classroom libraries are not.
Students from Kindergarten age up to Grade 8 will take part, setting a goal of reading at least a book a week. The challenge will be extended to the student’s families to see how many books each family can read in a two week period. The read-a-thon runs from March 26th to April 23rd and students will be taking pledges to raise funds. Donations from families and local businesses are also being accepted.
This is the first time that a read-a-thon has been held at Heritage Heights School and the goal is to have enough books so that each child in the classroom will have a book to read during their reading circle time. Those wishing to donate to this cause can call the school at 403 938 1400.
As Canada’s economy has exhibited a stronger recovery than expected, its resale home market is also predicted to spring back into high gear. In keeping with the trend of continued affordability, the Canadian Real Estate Association predicts a nationwide increase in sales of upwards of 13 percent for 2010 versus last year.
This means that some 527,300 resale home transactions, a number that would creep ahead by 1.2 percent from the record set in 2007. A 9.1 percent increase in resale volume is expected for Alberta this year, with about 63,000 transactions to be completed. Calgary Real Estate Board President Diane Scott anticipates a sales increase of nearly 18 percent, resulting in around 17,000. BMO Deputy Chief Economist Doug Porter commented that the economy is returning to levels not seen prior to the recession, despite the prediction of some experts that the recovery might be weak. Porter said that the 3.7-percent growth in Canadian gross domestic product projected for the first quarter might well be exceeded.
With productivity increasing 1.4 percent and manufacturing volume up some 2.4 percent, the economy could surge ahead for the first quarter much like it did at the end of 2009, suggested Porter.
Consumers continue to take advantage of attractive interest rates in order to buy homes. These low rates are expected to be in place for the first six months of 2010, but are expected to increase, possibly in June. In turn, housing demand may decline later this year, as well as into 2011, when a seven-percent decrease in sales is projected.
Dale Ripplinger, CREA president, believes that despite an uptick, interest rates will continue to be sufficiently reasonable to make home-buying an option for many people.
The Aldersyde intersection was once considered one of the most dangerous in Alberta. That was because there was no interchange figured into the original plans. It was viewed as a real life version of the video game “Frogger” and just as deadly for the people as the game was for the little green leapers.
Then Alberta got smart and built an interchange at the traffic prone intersection about three years ago. No more “Frogger.” Or at least not there. Appearing not to have learned from their deadly mistake at Aldersyde, the powers at be are set to build a new “Frogger” arena just ten kilometres south of the original danger zone. Foothills MD and the Town of High River are extending Highway 543, also known as Tongue Creek Road, east across Highway 2A to the busiest highway in this part of the province, Highway 2.
There will be no interchange, just a same level, at grade intersection just waiting for accidents to happen. Though not as complex as the Aldersyde intersection, the fact that large semi trucks constantly use Highway 2 is a concern. The money for the interchange is not in the budget, but it should be. Just take a look at the accident stats, and the death count, from Aldersyde before their interchange was built. This is not a video game. This is reality.
Formal dining rooms may be the showpieces for that upper crust party, but kitchens are for family and friends. It is only fitting that this warm, welcoming area be celebrated with quirky decorations and bits of eye popping colours. A good place to start looking for your kitchen make over items is at a garden shop. There is no better place to find a bit of spring and bring the freshness and new warmth of the season into the heart of your home.
Folding floor screens, a hot garden item, also make great room dividers for kitchens or other rooms of the home. Depending on the design, these screens can provide décor interest in their own right or can be dressed to suit. Torre & Tagus has come out with a new product, 40 by 40 centimetre cut out screen panels that come in sets of four that can be grouped together or used separately as window décor or room dividers.
Table linens, potted plants and figurines also make a statement in the kitchen. Hand painted dishes and bowls, the brighter the better, also can put your individual stamp on your living space. Give your kitchen backsplash a makeover with easy to apply thermoplastic panels that go right over existing tiles. Add a multi lighted chandelier and a colourful area rug and you can have a lively, welcoming spring like kitchen on a very modest budget.
The Foothills Land Trust was formed to help keep Alberta’s open space just that, open. By encouraging land owners to place conservation easements on their lands, this keeps the natural beauty of the foothills intact while at the same time offering tax incentives for those same landowners. It is a win-win situation.
The founding director of the Foothills Land Trust, Jacqui Gilson noted that since the groups formation in 2002 two conservation easements have been completed and five more are in process. It takes about two years for the easements to be completed and two of these five are in the final stages of the legal process. The other three are just starting out.
The Foothills Land Trust holds frequent meetings and open houses to get the word out. They are a non profit group operating strictly on grant funding and are eager to teach landowners about the opportunity to preserve their open land as well as the tax advantages and the legal processes of doing so.
The Foothills Land Trusts works with land owners in the Municipal District of Foothills. Other similar minded organizations exist throughout Alberta that work to preserve the foothills, prairies and other undeveloped areas. They all have a similar wish to keep Alberta’s beautiful landscape the way Mother Nature intended.
Interested parties are welcome to call 1-403-931-1042 or visit the website at www.crossconservation.org.
With an astounding luxury home as the grand prize, Foothills Hospital is pulling out all the stops in its eighteenth yearly lottery fundraiser. Matt Reiser, Calgary Health Trust’s director of events and lotteries, said that the home, built by Thomson Luxury Living, truly delivers on the “wow” factor.
The residence is a posh estate property located in the Lakes of Heritage Points. The lakeside community is located on Dunbow Road in Calgary’s south area. The property includes a water feature two storeys in height, a floating catwalk in the home’s upstairs area, as well as an entertainment-focused lower level.
The home has a three-car garage, with one side of it serving as a glass viewing area to accentuate the owner’s upscale vehicles. Currently, the garage’s guest is a 2010 Aston-Martin V8 Vantage Roadster, which is the fundraiser’s early-bird prize.
Thomson’s VP of Sales and Marketing, Dan Hippe, said that while the home is magnificent, it also contains practical elements, such as a jack-and-jill playroom between two upstairs bedrooms. He said that the house is completely furnished and is decorated professionally. The lot is meticulously landscaped, and as an extra incentive, the deal includes $10,000 in cash. The entire package is worth $2.3 million.
Two other grand prizes include homes constructed by Motion Homes, which is one of Thomson Luxury Living’s divisions. These homes are located in Royal Oak, which is in the northwest section of Calgary.
Tickets for the lottery are priced at $100 apiece, $250 for three and $400 for five. They may be purchased by calling 1-888-541-5540. Tickets may also be bought online, at: www.foothillshospitalhomelottery.org. They are also available at the hospital, the home locations, or at any of the other sites of major prize contributors. The early bird prize drawing will be on May 13, and the final drawing will be on June 8.
Of all major Canadian cities, Calgary exhibited the largest decrease in commercial real estate investment returns on an annual basis. The decline of 7.4 percent contrasts sharply to an increase of 7.4 percent seen in 2008. Some $90.9 billion in commercial real estate that is directly held appear in the results for 2009 in the ICREIM-IPD Canada Annual Property Index. The severity of the fall of local commercial real estate value is demonstrated by previous years’ statistics, which indicate healthy increases of 26.5 percent (2005), 29.9 percent (2006) and 20.2 percent (2008).
The biggest losses are in office space, which saw a decrease of 11.2 percent. Other problematic real estate areas include industrial, down –6.5 percent, residential rental properties, down –1.2 percent and retail space, down –0.1 percent. According to Calgary Economic Development real estate business manager Richard Pootmans, the office market in downtown Calgary is the main driver of the decline. He noted that the present weakness should be viewed in the overall context of the investment scene consisting of investment funds that have been financing new office towers. He said that the investments were initiated with a long-term vision of continuing energy-sector vitality.
A report issued by CB Richard Ellis Ltd. shows that by December 31, 2009, vacancies in downtown Calgary rose to 15.5 percent. The overall downtown inventory consisted of 35.7 million square feet. As a comparison, the vacancy rate at the end of 2008 was slightly over four percent.
CBRE is optimistic that the last has been seen of corporate layoffs. The report notes that capital markets are returning, and with the exception of any mega-mergers, normal office space demand should resume in 2010. CBRE predicts that the vacancy rate will climb to more than 21 percent in the next two years, due to the addition of 2.5 million square feet of new office space inventory.
It seems the new call dispatch centre in Calgary for Alberta Health Services may have opened before all the bugs were out. As a result of that a MD Foothills resident located a few minutes west of Okotoks, had to wait 45 minutes for an ambulance to respond to take care of her husband, a victim of two prior heart attacks. Luckily the man was taken to Foothills Hospital and is now OK, but if he had really been having a third heart attack, chances are he would not have made it.
The province of Alberta will be taking over the dispatching of ambulance services in March of this year. Last October, a new dispatch centre was opening in Calgary, designed to service all of southern Alberta. Before that centre opened, calls were dispatched by the Foothills Regional Emergency Medical Services locally in Black Diamond. Other government operated call centres in the province are located in Peace River and Edmonton. Local dispatching is being phased out.
The problem with the Calgary centre is that it was opened too soon. Only 10 of the 108 dispatchers have had training on how rural addresses work. The computers have not been updated to be able to handle the rural addresses and won’t be until the fourth quarter of 2010.
Other problems include communication issues between the call centre and emergency service personnel. The ambulance firms have handed in their computers to be reprogrammed. They have been waiting since October to get them back, and are still waiting. Instead of being able to pull up a Google map, paramedics are using paper maps to find where they are going.
Radio communications are also being hampered. The Mike radio system, which the ambulance companies have had to switch to, does not have coverage west of Highway 22. In these black out areas, paramedics must use their old systems to talk to the FREMS dispatch center, which forwards the messages to the Calgary centre. This means calls take at least twice as long to be dispatched, at best.
Jim Garland, dispatch director for Alberta Health Services admits there have been problems but denies they have affected patient service and care. After meeting with FREMS officials he is promising to address the service and communication issues plaguing the system in a timely manner.
After planning on installing solar panels on the municipal administration building in High River, the plans have been stalled by the Province because the government refused to grant the funding for the project.
The partnering schools and businesses applied for funding for the project through Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) last year. The participants were simply applying for matching funds for their collaborative solar energy project, but it was turned down.
The CCEMC only has $120 million of funds to grant for proposed solar energy projects. High River Environmental coordinator, Kylana Rogers-Hambling, said that the news of the rejection is a huge disappointment because the project was designed to help the environment by saving energy.
She explains that the rejection is quite disheartening because the majority of the money has been granted to corporations, for mainly carbon-capture and storage projects. She says that they should not have been so naive about the direction of the program. She thinks that the design process, along with the application process, was a huge waste of time since it is now obvious that they money will only be granted to corporations.
MD public works manager, Tom Gillis, recently announced that an application to build two new arenas in the MD foothills will the support of a private constructor has been turned down, but the project is still a possibility.
The MD has applied for a federal grant to help build the two event facilities using a public-private partnership model. For now, the project has been put on hold.
The proposed projects would be to build two single-rink arenas, one in Priddis and a second facility at Heritage Heights School. If approved under the public-private partnership model, the federal grant would pay twenty-five percent of the cost.
From the beginning of the application process, the Province did not believe that the proposal to build the arenas would succeed. The Province actually did not agree with the rate at which the MD expected to be funded.
The MD wanted an interest rate of seven percent, but the Province responded by stating that a more likely interest rate would be 11%. The federal government has yet to believe that the project is viable. Project supporters have began a fund raising campaign with the Calgary Flames to raise the money for a new arena in the Heritage Pointe area.
We were extremely privelged to take part in the Just Like Mom event in conjuction with Simplee Serene. Here is a video we made from the event and posted on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtTYWNU2qWU
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