2007 -  New
Acronyms
The end of 2006 and the start of 2007
was rough on the Alberta Land Surveyors' Association in a couple of ways. Sadly,
three Alberta Land Surveyors passed away within fifteen days of one another:
Robin Hatherley on December 23,
2006,
Ozzie DeSantis on December 28,
2006 and young
Sean Studer on January 7, 2007.
The Association
also saw the start of a decline in iron post and marker post sales at this time.
Oil and gas prices remained high but costs started to go up faster than prices
did. The Canadian dollar had been worth just under US$0.65 in
2002 but had steadily increased to the
point where it was worth over US$0.90 in 2007. Oil & gas companies pulled back
exploration and conventional wisdom was that everyone was taking a short breath
before activity started booming again. However, by mid-2007, the slowdown was
deeper and longer than most had anticipated at the start of the year.
Housing, in
Alberta, was still going strong. As of February 2007, the average resale home
price in Edmonton was $321,307 (up 51.9% year-over-year) and Calgary's average
was $393,307 (up 29.1% year-over-year). Stories were making the rounds that
landowners were aggressively bidding on lots and regularly selling their lots
for more than the list price. The new home market was also strong with many new
large subdivisions going up all over the province. The housing market became so
tight that people who were considering moving to Alberta to take advantage of
the economy were advised to make sure they had shelter arranged before moving
here. On the survey side, Alberta Land Surveyors were taking longer to get to
real property reports if they were doing them at all.
The Alberta Land
Surveyors' Association itself continued to do well although there were many
changes there too. Don George took a
six-month leave of absence after 13 years employment with the ALSA.
John
Ironstone came in to take his place for six months at a time. The Systematic
Practice Review program was able to hire a full-time clerical person and a new
technologist was retained. Fred Cheng
ended up the senior person with the Systematic Practice Review program with just
over a year's experience as the director.
Several new
acronyms found their way to the Alberta Land Surveyors' Association. TILMA, or
the Trade Investment Labour Mobility Agreement, was the first one. TILMA was an
agreement between the governments of Alberta and British Columbia that came into
effect on April 1, 2007 and was designed to eliminate all sorts of barriers
between the two provinces. The intent was that a worker who was certified in one
province would be recognized as qualified in both. Both Alberta and British
Columbia Land Surveyors had concerns about the agreement at first but, as the
two sides met to work out a land surveyor-specific agreement, it seemed like
much could be done to reduce the requirement for any further examinations.
LiDAR (Light
Detection and Ranging) was another acronym that was new to the Association. The
Director of Surveys had approved two pilot projects that allowed applications to
be made for a disposition on Crown Land using LiDAR. LiDAR was a remote sensing
technology that meant that there was minimal disturbance on the ground if the
disposition never proceeded. The use of this new technology prompted plenty of
discussion at ALSA Standards Committee meetings and regional meetings but, by
the time a recommendation came forward to amend the Manual of Standard Practice
to allow LiDAR, the motion passed without too much debate.
FOTAC (Future of
the Association Ad Hoc Committee) entered the Association's lexicon this year.
Although the ad hoc committee was completing its third year of existence, it was
not ready to produce its first set of recommendations. The ad hoc committee
recommended that the Association formalize the role of technologists within land
surveying; establish an external review of procedures by which public
concerns are dealt with by the ALSA; and investigate the establishment of an
industry association for land surveyors (as opposed to a professional
association). The report was well received by the ALSA membership at the annual
general meeting in Lake Louise - the first time the ALSA AGM had been held in
Lake Louise.
- Back - 2006 - Building
Relationships
- Forward - 2008 - The David Thompson
Bicentennials
|
