More than 175 people attended a town hall meeting at Springbank Heritage Club Oct. 21, where they had the opportunity to listen to five local speakers present topics pertaining to development in the Springbank area.
“I think the largest number of people who had ever come to such a meeting previously was about 40, so obviously people are extremely concerned about these issues,” said organizer and emcee, Rocky View County (RVC) councillor Jerry Arshinoff.
The topics discussed throughout the evening included the Gardner Ranch development, presented by Springbank resident Doug Nishimura; the Calaway Park Mall and Woody’s RV proposals, presented by Kim Magnuson, co-founder of Central Springbank Task Force for Sensible Development (CSTFSD) and former councillor for Springbank; Highway 1 and Range Road 33 overpass, presented by Richard Wilson, co-founder of CSTFSD; drainage and flooding in RVC, presented by councillor Al Sacuta; and Cochrane Lake, presented by area resident Chris Briggs.
Arshinoff said the meeting was intended to provide information about issues within RVC jurisdiction.
“We are being bombarded; we are being dictated to,” said Gloria Wilson, a Cochrane Lake resident who attended the meeting. “We have no control here anymore, and this is a great opportunity to speak up.”
However, some attendees said the evening took on an anti-development tone.
According to Guy Buchanan with Co-Star Consulting, only “one side of the story” was presented. As project lead on the Gardner development, Buchanan said he could have offered more insight into the planning and engineering issues involved with the project.
“I was very disappointed that I wasn’t given the opportunity to inform the audience about the status of the project and lay out the facts,” said Buchanan.
“I think that most of the people who attended really wanted to be informed. Our future open houses will be for everyone to hear both sides, as that meeting should have been.”
Arshinoff said developers were not denied the opportunity to speak at the meeting, but were not allowed to advertise. According to Arshinoff, developers have plenty of opportunities to promote their projects with RVC council, planners and administration.
Arshinoff said the developers are “there all the time, and are all known by their first names.”
“This was an opportunity for residents, who are ordinarily written off and not given a chance to express their views.”
Most Springbank residents maintain that they are not opposed to development, despite the perceived tone of the meeting, according to Arshinoff.
Audience member and Springbank resident Arnel Beaubrun said that it would be nice to have commercial developments within the community – with some stipulations.
“It has to make sense, and be sustainable and economically viable,” he said.
“It can’t be a burden to the community from a traffic perspective, an economic perspective, or a safety perspective. The more congested an area is, the more you will see these issues, and I think it’s time to talk about this stuff.”
