Drayton Valley town council seeks provincial grant funding, approves community event grants

The Town of Drayton Valley is applying for grant funding for infrastructure repairs and recently approved a handful of community grant applications.

On Nov. 19, town council approved an application to the province’s Strategic Infrastructure Program (STIP) grant under the Local Municipal Initiatives stream to support improvements to 43 Street.

The 43 Street corridor is a critical collector roadway in the town, and provides direct access to key locations, such as St. Anthony School, Frank Maddock High School, Powerhouse Campus and 50 Avenue.

Town officials say the corridor has deteriorated significantly over the past several years, leading to multiple points of failure, and safety, accessibility and long-term maintenance challenges. This deterioration has also impacted adjacent multi-use trail networks and pedestrian crossings, causing more maintenance costs.

The town expects to find out whether the STIP application is successful by June, so the rehabilitation wouldn’t begin until 2027. A traffic accommodation plan would be enacted to ensure access to Frank Maddock High School is maintained throughout the construction process.

While approving the grant application, council also committed to funding the municipal portion of the project, should it be successful.

Council also approved the Q4 allocations of the Community Events Grant to five organizations.

Eight applications were received and the following were approved:

• Rotary Club of Drayton Valley: $1,000 to host a Mental Health Awareness Symposium in February 2026.
• Rotary Club of Drayton Valley: $1,000 to host a Road Rally, which took place Sept. 20, 2025.
• Roderick Molinilla: $1,000 to host the Drayton Valley Basketball Tournament, which took place Sept. 20-21, 2025.
• Pembina Nordic Ski Club: $750 approved to host the Turkey Trot, which took place Oct. 11, 2025.
• Drayton Valley Fine Arts Society: $1,000 to host an art show, scheduled for Dec. 3, 2025.

An application from the Drayton Valley Skating Club for $6,238.05 to support the Annual Ice Carnival was pushed to the Q1 round of 2026 as the event takes place next year.

The requests total $4,750 and the remaining $16,162.02 of the 2025 Community Grants budget will be rolled over into next year’s budget.