The town’s official response to Rocky View County’s proposed development east of town was delivered last week, was unfavourable and cited numerous concerns over the negative impacts it would have on Cochrane.
Administration presented a summary at council of the Town of Cochrane’s official response to the proposed draft Glenbow Ranch Area Structure Plan (GRASP).
The conclusion was that a community of more than 14,000 people on the south side of Highway 1A would result in an abundance of negative pressures on the town and its services.
“They call it a hamlet, but that’s a misnomer – it’s a city without services,” said Coun. Tara McFadden who is “dead-set against” the proposed development, citing concerns of “massive urban sprawl” and “a bad way to manage growth.”
Drew Hyndman, senior manager of development services for the town, outlined the five main concerns from the town’s response: that the plan is inconsistent with the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan; that it’s premature in advance of a completed functional planning study on Highway 1A by Alberta Transportation; that it’s inconsistent with the county’s policies and plans and is therefore in conflict with the Municipal Government Act; introducing a settlement of this size between Cochrane and Calgary is premature in advance of the establishment of a provincial growth management board; and that an established/formal master cost sharing agreement between the county and the town would need to be in place.
“The county can’t even step up for a pool,” said Coun. Jeff Toews, expressing concerns echoed by other councillors: that the informal user agreements between the county and the town would not be effective at ensuring the county pays its fair share for the use of town services.
To date, the county has come up with a little more than $2 million for the future aquatic centre/curling rink; this is only around one-third of what the town requested, based on predicted usage by county residents – around 25 per cent.
Hyndman also pointed out the development lands on the north side of Highway 1A, noting the potential added pressures if/when the county chose to move forward with development there.
The county identified the need for the GRASP due to the age of the Bearspaw ASP, the establishment of the Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park and overall development pressures in the area.
The total area included in the draft GRASP is 7,200 acres – 3,215 acres as provincial park; 1,794 acres as conservation area; 413 acres of undevelopable lands (slopes, wetlands, riparian areas, road right of ways and major drainages); and 1,787 acres of build area.
While the entire density works out to 1.32 units per acre (upa), the higher density area of concern, located in the middle of the development lands, works out to 5.71 upa (around 10,000 people).
The development is contingent on the provincial approval of a Transferable Development Credit (TDC) program, which is voluntary.
According to the draft, “Conservation areas are assigned development credits that can be sold and transferred to TDC build area landowners. (These owners) have the ability to develop at a higher density than would normally be allowed through the purchase of development credits.”
The draft GRASP is now under review by the county, with an anticipated official plan to be delivered to county council by the end of the year or early 2017.
