Rocky View County (RVC) council has set the wheels in motion for the proposed Glenbow Ranch Area Structure Plan (GRASP) on Cochrane's eastern borders.
Rocky View County (RVC) council has set the wheels in motion for the proposed Glenbow Ranch Area Structure Plan (GRASP) on Cochrane's eastern borders.
The development would accommodate upwards of 16,000 residents and was the result of a ten-hour public hearing in county council chambers April 25.
Cochrane remains adamant that this development offers no good news for the town.
“This is a small, sprawling city between us and Calgary, ” said Mayor Ivan Brooker, who was “very disappointed ” to wake up to news of the county vote, highlighting such concerns as Highway 1A traffic pressures; the burden on Cochrane's infrastructure and services with the development's absence of soft services; and the densities.
Council voted on first reading with a 7-2 vote in favour of moving the plan forward. It will come back to council as an amended plan June 27.
Bearspaw Coun. Eric Lowther proposed an amendment that would see slight density reductions in two areas of the development; this amendment was carried forward unanimously.
Springbank Coun. Jerry Arshinoff (Division 9), who unsuccessfully tried to table the motion at the beginning of the meeting, was joined in his opposition by Elbow Valley Coun. Margaret Bahcheli (Division 3).
“The idea that this is a conservation development community is a thinly veiled attempt to get four times the density into this area than what would have been there otherwise, ” Bahcheli said.
Calgary is also not in favour of the development.
Brooker said that Cochrane has filed written submissions, expressing concerns and opposition to the development.
If the plan moves forward, the option for both Cochrane and Calgary would likely be to file appeals, which would result in “very expensive ” legal fees, said Brooker, citing the county's proposed Conrich application to turn the hamlet into a 10,000-person community over the next 30 years as a similar example.
“It's obvious this county is totally run by private interests and not by the community, ” said Bearspaw resident Samanntha Wright, who presented on behalf of county resident advocacy group Rocky View Forward, which has an unofficial membership of more than 200 people.
“They made up their minds before they came in, ” said Wright, who said she “wasn't surprised ” but was “deeply saddened. ”
Janet Ballantyne, also a spokesperson for Rocky View Forward, spoke with the Eagle following the decision.
“It seems to me that there has to be something seriously wrong with a proposal when it has no support from anyone other than its major promoters and has strong opposition from other affected landowners and adjacent residents, ” she said.
Ballantyne added that she was “very troubled ” with how many of the councillors were “very rude to many speakers who had sacrificed a full day or more of their time to come and express their concerns. ”
Cochrane Coun. Morgan Nagel said while he “was not very happy with such a huge development between Cochrane and Calgary ” he does understand the county's motive for pushing ahead so aggressively, as they want to make their big planning decisions ahead of the province's plan to create a Growth Management Board.
Such a board would require mandatory participation from municipalities in this region and would impact the planning powers of all players.
“This boogeyman of Calgary coming to get us has got to stop, ” said Wright, who is disgusted with the notion of “build it before Calgary does. ”
The GRASP area includes a significant portion of land located in the current Bearspaw Area Structure Plan (ASP), which was approved in 1994, located on the south side of Highway 1A between Cochrane and Calgary.
Using a new tool offered through the Alberta Land Stewardship Act called Transfer of Development Credits (TDC), GRASP aims to balance the residential development of 5,263 new homes with the permanent conservation of approximately half of the developable land within GRASP area.
The program would retain the “landscape values ” and wildlife of the area while protecting the adjacent park from the impacts of development.
“RVC is not known for being leading-edge, but here we are - we might be the first municipality in the province to make a success out of this concept, ” said Councillor Liz Breakey.
“The autonomy of the county is extremely important, ” said Bragg Creek (Division 1) Coun. Liz Breakey, who applauded the concept. “The county should be planning county lands, and not waiting for the urbans to do it for us. ”
Bahcheli disagreed.
“The creative idea of Transferable Development Credits is not cutting it for me. ”
