Council voted 6-1 in favour of deferring the applicant’s first reading for a land-use amendment to the future south community of Southbow Landing.
The application, made by PBA Land & Development, is seeking land-use for what they have listed as phase one of the mixed commercial and residential site which also includes a future school site.
Longtime Cochranite Stu Bradley attended the council session and spoke to the Eagle afterwards to voice his concerns.
“I don’t think council understands the importance of this project,” said Bradley, with reference to the commercial component included in phase one.
“If we don’t do commercial and get them to understand, this town dies because there’s no tax base.”
Bradley has been working on a large-scale proposal to build an all-encompassing commercial and community hub that would potentially include a hotel, conference centre, year-round farmers’ market, agri-industries centres and more that would draw international tourism and make Cochrane the heart of tourism in the Bow Valley corridor.
Administration felt that council would not want to approve the entire parcel at once, therefore recommending to Philco Farms to proceed with a staged approach.
Council was apprehensive to grant first reading and establish a public hearing until they had the entire application before them again by next council, June 12.
Coun. Ross Watson voted against the deferment, based on a desire to “wanting to move ahead with that piece that would include a grocery store and school site.”
Watson emphasized that the southern Cochrane residents have no place to “buy milk or bread” in their own community – something also stressed by Coun. Tara McFadden.
He added that he wanted to see phase one approvals move along as quickly as possible in order to allow the developer to get a jump start on commercial development and did not feel that an approval would affect the rest of the neigbourhood plan.
Coun. Morgan Nagel, who has long viewed Southbow as a development too big for Cochrane, is concerned that granting the applicant amended land-use would “let them build at the whims of the market.”
“The proposed area structure plan at the council meeting left out half of the commercial space and most of the green space from the original plan,” said Nagel.
“If council is going to approve Southbow, it should be clear that we expect them to build the commercial area and the green space. I don’t want them coming back in five or 10 years asking for more condos on that land.”
Nicole Tomes, town planner, explained that regardless of what phase green spaces are brought in at, a total of 159 acres has been marked as future environment reserve – which cannot be changed.
She added that while the majority of road alignment of James Walker Trail was included in the proposed phase one, by bringing the entire plan back to council to review the entire scope they could ensure the final piece of that road alignment.
Mayor Ivan Brooker was in agreement with the deferment.
“I would like to see solid resolution for James Walker Trail.”
Coun. McFadden sought clarity that land-use amendments could be made by future councils. Administration confirmed that this was the case.
The 540-acre parcel of land that received council’s consent to the neighbourhood plan in the fall of 2015 with a narrow vote of 4-3; the total community build-out is anticipated to take 15-20 years and could accommodate around 9,000 residents, as based on the approved neighbourhood plan.
Included in the land-use amendment for phase one are 208 acres. The estimated timeline for build-out is around 10 years.
The applicant is still waiting on provincial approvals, including a water act approval, and following this would hope to start commercial build-out in “one to two years.”
