I was shocked when I heard the Hartell Homestead country store was going to be shut down in a matter of weeks by the County of Foothills. The store and farm represent exactly what political officials and tourism advocates claim they want to see developing in Alberta. It is a small, family run business which attracts tourism and supports local artisans and agricultural producers. Why on earth would the bureaucrats with the county want to shut this gem down? .I got into my car and headed down to the homestead to find out for myself what the deal is. It doesn't take me much coaxing to take a short road trip in the foothills on a beautiful fall day. .It felt like a country cliché when I pulled into the parking area of the homestead. I was greeted by two friendly farm dogs while the proprietor, Nick Shipley sat in the sun on a chair in front of the store shelling peas from his garden. It is a picture perfect small farm with an astounding view of the Rocky Mountains. I sat out front with Mr. Shipley and he explained the situation. . Country store .Like so many others, Nick had found himself unemployed in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. He and his wife Allie decided to take a chance, invest what they had and transform their small farm into a public farm and store facility. They opened up in May of 2021 and have been slowly developing a solid little business for themselves. The Hartell Homestead is more than just a country store. It offers a full farm experience as the public can get up close with everything from their specialty Highland cattle, goats and chickens. They host classes, private tours and catered long-table dinners. The retail portion carries products from local producers and artisans along with their own meat products. .Nick's passion for sustainable farming and community building was evident as we talked. He explained how nine out of ten Canadians had never even set foot on a working farm before and how he wanted to provide people with that chance. While we often talk about sustainable living, shopping local and humane farming practices, many people never get to experience what that entails. Nick wanted to provide the experience. It's a great model and the business was growing. . Farm tours .The Shipley's tried to play by the rules however and that's where the problem began. They put in every effort to navigate the myriad of inspections and licenses required in Alberta in order to run a business in Alberta. From fire code inspections to health inspections they passed every test. Then they ran up against an inane requirement from Foothills County to have an engineer's report on their little 400 square foot store in order to get a development permit. In order to get a third party engineer to sign off, they need the original blueprints for the building. Those blueprints were stored in Foothills County headquarters basement and were destroyed in the 2013 flood in High River. This has left Hartell Homestead in something of a permit limbo. One firm told Nick he could start the process with a $5,000 deposit but there was no guarantee of an approval and no timeline could be provided. This is just too much for a small business. This isn't a multi-level hotel or large structure. It is a simple little shop and one needn't be an engineer to see it is hardly on the brink of collapse. . Highland cattle .The local councillor for the county is blaming provincial regulations while the province has been silent on the issue. This is typical political cowardice in the face of bureaucratic bloat. The regulations are too onerous and aren't reasonable but politicians tend to fear doing battle with bureaucracies. .Foothills County is particularly bad and I experienced it first hand. It is the same county I live in and its absurd, anti-business requirements nearly put my pub out of business before I even opened its doors. My wife Jane and I bought and were in the process of reopening a pub in Priddis back in 2016. When we went to High River to purchase our business license from the county, the person in charge of that department told us we would have to wait six weeks for a development permit because the prior establishment had been shut down due to health violations. We were devastated. We had invested all we had into the pub and would be facing bankruptcy if we couldn't start generating revenue for another six weeks. The bureaucrat really did seem to get a thrill when she gave us that news. .We did our research and discovered two things. For one thing, the pub was never shut down for health reasons. Secondly, because we weren't changing the business type we needed no waiting period for a development permit. We confronted the administrator from the county with this and she had the audacity to argue with us on it. When we presented her with copies of the legislation and let her know she would be facing legal consequences if she continued to falsely tell people the business had been shut down for health reasons, she called an assistant over and barked at her to draft a permit for us before stomping away. I couldn't believe how enraged she was that we managed to open our business. .We found out later from the previous owners of the pub that they had to petition to the local council in order to keep their doors open past 8pm. For some reason, Foothills County wouldn't allow it. The council found no opposition to the petition and granted the extension in hours. Why on earth did a business have to fight so hard for a reasonable request? .There is an anti-business culture at work within the bureaucracy of Foothills County. Rather than working to facilitate the development of new ventures in the county, they seek reasons to shut them down. Foothills is hardly the only jurisdiction with local administrators having authoritarian chips on their shoulders. Businesses everywhere are having a tough time dealing with increasingly difficult regulations and license requirements. .While the UCP under Kenney's leadership created an associate ministry dedicated to red-tape reduction, it doesn't appear to have been very effective..Hartell Homestead is everything a small business is supposed to be. It supports local businesses, diversifies the economy, doesn't harm the environment and gels well with its neighbours. Despite this, they may be pushed out of business on their own property due to intractable bureaucrats with unreasonable licensing demands and callow politicians refusing to stand up for them. .Regulations are not written in stone. They can be amended, they can be repealed and exemptions can be created for them. What is required though is political will and courage. .It will be a tragedy if this fine, small business is killed by such unreasonable requirements. The Shipleys aren't politically inclined and Nick made it clear to me that he doesn't care for going public or being an activist with this. He just wants to quietly carry on operating the business he and his wife built. He is petitioning and trying what he can to save his livelihood but the clock is ticking now. .If Alberta can't manage to cut into the bureaucracy and save this small enterprise, it is little wonder our economy is in such rough shape outside of oil and gas development.
