The Rio Terrace Community League is looking to build a new spray deck by summer 2016. But the community addition isn’t as easy as it sounds.
League president Lance Burns oversees all facets of raising $375,000 to build the spray deck (nearly a third of which will come directly from the league), including writing grant applications, finding corporate sponsors and helping co-ordinate fundraising events – all while teaching photography full-time at Ross Sheppard High School. For Burns, this is a massive investment of time and effort – but this kind of involvement isn’t unusual for the more than 1,300 residents of Rio Terrace.
“Right away, people from the community got involved [with the spray deck project] , finding aspects to be invested in, and even started forming committees to see this through,” Burns says.
The small-town feel to Rio Terrace isn’t lost on Burns, who moved to the neighbourhood in 2003 and almost immediately became involved with the community league, ultimately being elected its president in 2013.
The neighbourhood was originally part of the town of Jasper Place, which was annexed by the City of Edmonton in 1964. Burns says that some of the residents who lived in Rio Terrace during the annexation still live there and have shared their memories of the area being mostly farmland.
Burns points out that many who grew up in Rio Terrace wind up moving back to start families. But things have changed, such as the cost of homes. Towards Rio Terrace’s centre are bungalow-style homes built in the 1960s and valued between $400,000 and $500,000. But, along Rio Terrace Drive, homes built in the 1970s are valued at more than $1 million.
Burns also believes the neighbourhood’s green space is a major draw. Rio Terrace boasts five designated parks and easy access to Fort Edmonton Park, Whitemud Park and the Edmonton Valley Zoo.
“One thing you see … is a lot of people walking,” Burns says. “Sometimes I even meet people from outside of Rio Terrace who came into the neighbourhood just to take a walk.”