Rocky View County (RVC) council has passed a motion to allow for interested buyers to submit proposals to purchase the land currently occupied by Cochrane & District Agricultural Society (CDAS).
This motion was brought up at the Jan. 26 RVC meeting as a motion moved by Division 9 Councillor Bruce Kendall. The majority of the meeting, with over half of an hour of discussion held in-camera saw the motion being passed with Councillors Margaret Bahcheli and Jerry Arshinoff opposed.
“The whole purpose is to gauge the level of interest, the motion will allow us to do an exploration of the Agricultural society for the county of Rocky View. We may get nothing, we may get something, we don’t know what is going to happen – (but) we are not in the business to take away facilities,” Kendall said.
The CDAS has been exploring options since 2013 when an Area Concept Plan (ACP) was created with RVC and Town of Cochrane to discuss the potential use of the ag society ground. Interest in the land was expressed in 2014 by Brookfield Development, which wants to purchase a portion of the CDAS property for a storm water pond, which would leave little available land to run activities and programs, according to CDAS president Katy Pack.
Then in late 2014 and early 2015 CDAS had several meetings with Coun. Kendall, Town of Cochrane and with the Cochrane Lions Club to gauge future opportunities and how to develop together for community needs. But communication between the groups stopped last June.
Last November the CDAS made the decision to request a lease renewal for 50 years, after the current lease (ending in 2025) is done. The amount of time requested was a decision made by the board after discussing the options of staying or moving the ag society. If CDAS stayed on the current land, the board would need to start planning and secure funding for future upgrades. Currently there are no permanent utilities on site, and some of the building would need expansion.
“Rebuilding on a nine-year lease doesn’t make a lot of sense economically and that is why as a board we sent the request to RVC to extend our lease – we would need to do all of these (upgrades) in order to be able to continue to offer programs and change our programs within the needs of the community,” Pack explained.
The lease extension request was denied and the motion to accept proposals to purchase the land was approved. RVC administration met with CDAS and explained that RVC would not sell the land if bids were lower than market value and in accordance with the current lease, if the lease was terminated the CDAS would be entitled to receive depreciated cost of assets and fair market value of the lease. Kendall also explained that the 50-year lease renewal request from the CDAS was denied because the county on accepts 10-year lease renewals, with the exception of unique cases where there would be substantial development on the land.
“Right now we are exploring options and we have to because we want to keep the ag society alive and well, at the same time, we want to negotiate in good faith with Rocky View County,” Pack said.
“Our next step is evaluating what it would cost for a move and where are some potential locations – we are trying to revaluate all our options so we can decide on a course of action that makes really good business and common sense.”
Since the announcement of the decision, members of the community have spoken out about their frustrations with the potential land sale, including Cochrane Pony Club coach Daria Holden, who called the decision “devastating” and started an online petition.
Overnight the petition on change.org asking to save the CDAS ground gained over 800 signatures with 270 people leaving comments with stories and support. Of those comments, 97 came directly from Cochrane and 55 were from Calgary, all echoing the same sentiment – this is a necessary facility.
“The ag society is special and unique and an incredible asset to the town of Cochrane – we would have no place to go if we didn’t have access to the society,” Holden said.
Unfortunately due to RVC petition policy, online petitions do not qualify and Holden is currently working on finding another way to make sure the concerned voices are heard by RVC – although Coun. Arshinoff said he thinks a petition to gain that much traction overnight should have some relevance.
“Those lands are used by many groups and people all over, it is quite a special and unique facility and while the online petition is not considered to be proper by petition rules, never the less it does show there is an extreme dissatisfaction,” Arshinoff said.
The CDAS offers a variety of programs and activities throughout the year, with a lengthy list of user groups which utilize the property, including the Cochrane Fair, Cochrane Search and Rescue, Cochrane Pony Club, Cochrane BMX, Big Hills 4-H Club, Cochrane Roping Club, Cochrane Horse Trials, Pawstracs Dog Agility, Extreme Cowboy, Zombie Survivor, Mud, Sweat and Tears, X Country bicycle races, Hunter/Jumper Shows, Bears Paw Bench Show, Olds College, and High School X-Country running races.
Kendall said this decision was made now, as opposed to waiting for 2025 when the original lease with CDAS would be left for future RVC council to handle the matter. Kendall said this decision could have a couple different impacts; nothing can happen or the property can be sold and the CDAS would either relocate or stay on the land with a new landlord. Kendall assured that RVC is more than willing to work with the CDAS on the future decision of the land and he will be available for discussion on the issue at Dartique Hall on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.
“We want to negotiate in good faith with RVC – we are not 100 per cent comfortable that the best interests in the community will be considered. We know we have a diminished operational platform and at the same time we are paralyzed because we can’t do a lot of the work that needs to be done to sustain ourselves,” Pack said.
“We just want the negotiations to be transparent.”
CDAS was set to meet with RVC administration on Feb. 16 but administration did not show up to the meeting. At press time, CDAS was waiting to hear back from RVC to schedule another meeting.
