Council had a special guest in attendance for the Jan. 11 Cochrane council meeting, Madisson from Manachaban Middle School, who missed the December mock council meeting.
Four of the 10 Cochrane Community Enhancement suggestions were discussed at council, with the remaining six suggestions to be on the next two council agendas.
- Notifying communities of development proposals was first on the agenda. It was proposed that there be large signage at the construction site detailing the development and leaving a contact number for further information. Other notification suggestions included, community notice boards, digital signs, and an online development inquiry tool, putting pins on a map detailing what is going on.
Senior manager of development services Drew Hyndman said those efforts would be going “above and beyond what any other community in Alberta is doing.”
Coun. Jeff Toews asked if it would be possible to also put the development notification signs in show homes – to ensure sellers were being as honest as possible. Administration could not answer if it was legally allowed but said it was something they would look into.
Coun. Tara McFadden said she applauded this suggestion for the transparency.
“I know we are trying to address this but signage and communication is not the problem,” said Coun. Morgan Nagel.
– Community identification signs were brought up as a suggestion for community enhancement. Guidelines were discussed for the future signs, to ensure similar height and area but with enough room to allow each sign to be unique. Coun. Gaynor Levisky added that she wanted this bylaw to help not only new and developing communities but for existing ones as well
– Parking in the rear lane. It was suggested council amend the traffic bylaw to allow for planned and designated parking in rear lanes where there is nine metres of greater right of way in order to address parking issues in new communities.
– Nuisance and unsightly premises. Currently the town enforces this bylaw on a strictly complaint basis but has now asked their engineers to start observing and reporting these types of premises while out in the field. Councillors Levisky and Toews were concerned with the undeveloped lots in town but administration said it would be legally difficult to pursue enforcement.
The plan studied the town’s previous vision plans finding reoccurring themes in improving connectivity, promoting health living, enhancing livability, improve environmental sustainability and reducing congestion, promoting economic vitality, and maintaining financial sustainability. Allison Clavelle from Urban Systems gave the presentation to council, stating a 50-year vision plan.
Coun. Mary Lou Davis-Eckmeier was worried about the project, stating the projected completion timeline of 2060.
“I won’t be alive by then,” Davis-Eckmeier stated.
Councillors Tara McFadden and Levisky both said they liked the plan. Levisky asked Clavelle how the town can achieve the proposed changes, including future transit and additional roadways.
Clavelle said this plan is just in the beginning stages – they need to know what Cochrane wants first before an official design can be pitched to Alberta Transportation. “We would need follow up studies then we can do a conceptual design,” Clavelle explained.
While it has been suggested highways 1A and 22 be twinned, Clavelle explained that would only temporarily relieve the congestion and, according to their studies, in 15-20 years it would only go back to the same problems.
The reports presented showed that Cochranites supported a four-lane highway but not a six-lane one.
McFadden said she was excited to see long-range planning in the chambers.
“We are looking at the bigger picture – and I want to make sure future council is in the right position,” McFadden stated.
The presentation will be at a public open house in February, date to be announced.
Council reviewed administration suggestions to amend the Land Use Bylaw to add live-work units to discretionary use. This change would allow the development and purchasing of live-work units in the town.
A live-work unit must be a minimum of 50 per cent of residential space and, in the development, in separate areas of the building. There must be one dwelling unit and either an arts-and-crafts studio, medical clinic, office support services, office, or personal service shops.
If approved, the units would be allowed in residential multi-unit dwellings (R-3), residential high density multi-unit dwellings (R-M), local commercial districts, shopping centre districts, heritage mixed-use districts, and commercial-residential mixed use districts – upon permit submission and review by the Cochrane Planning Commission. Planner Drew Hyndman said this would allow for more diversity for businesses, and said due to this bylaw not being in place before, it created restrictions for the development of the Trading Post.
The public hearing will be held on Feb. 8 at 6 p.m.
The defined use of child care services was added to commercial-residential mixed use to ensure consistency throughout the local communities. It was previously listed as a discretionary use, but with the amendment to development of child care services the intent is to facilitate development of the land for mixed residential and commercial purposes.
The defined use that was added is, “development used to provide temporary care and supervision to seven or more children under the age of 14 for periods of less than 24 hours in accordance with the Child Care Licensing Act, SA 2007, and may include, daycare facilities, play schools, and pre-schools, but does not include a home-based business, major for a day home.”
– Mayor Ivan Brooker announced the Calgary Regional Partnership, a group that does long-range planning and projections for this area, will now become the Growth Management Board.
– Coun. Morgan Nagel said he did not agree with Cochrane’s participation but Brooker said it was mandatory that the town be a part of the board. The new Growth Management Board will mirror that of the Calgary Region Board, Brooker said.
– Brooker can now approve proclamations that come to council, as long as they fit an established criteria. The intent of this change is to help make council meetings more time-efficient – requests can come for either non-profit organizations or businesses.
– The first Monday of every second month was designated for strategic planning meetings for mayor and council.
