A community advisory group appointed to assist in the creation of a new area structure plan for the final phases of Three Sisters Mountain Village has started meeting as part of a new process.
The group represents uncharted territory when it comes to development in Canmore and the province of Alberta.
QuantumPlace managing principal Chris Ollenberger, who represents the ownership group for TSMV and is leading the development, said the process is so new that the group is currently navigating through how it will work with the developer and municipality on the project.
Ollenberger said the advisory group is a great sounding board for ideas and the developer is hoping not to repeat past experiences of the community being shocked and dismayed at a proposed plan by consulting with the group up front.
“That way we have resonance with the community about where we are going before we come out of the box,” he said. “We are vetting our ideas before we get broader community feedback.
“We have such a diverse background on the committee that we are getting lots of different viewpoints, which is really positive.
“It is scary as a developer a little bit, but it is working out well. I was a little trepidatious going in, but at the end of the day, I think we will end up with a better result.”
Municipal development planner Tracy Woitenko said one of the reasons the process is different than anything tried before is that it is fully collaborative. Woitenko said the group has so far decided what roles and responsibilities it wants to have in the process and how it wants to communicate with the public.
“The first meeting was about how they can best contribute to the process and they determined it themselves,” she said. “They want to say when an idea is ready to take to the public and discuss it. It is really an iterative process. They do not make the decisions – it is a discussion and solution based committee.”
Part of those discussions have revolved around whether or not the group will have public meetings. Ollenberger said the group decided not to meet publicly, but the process will involve many public open houses to share results with the community, which was determined to be the right time and place for feedback from the public.
“There were discussions at the advisory group about confidentiality, because sometimes you discuss ideas that may not have legs,” he said. “They had a real discussion about how to have an open and honest, transparent discussion without letting the rumour mill take over.”
Ollenberger said the usual way of doing business would mean the developer would put together the entire ASP package, including hiring consultants to perform various studies like environmental impact assessments and then submit it to the municipality. At that point, the planning department would review the submission and raise any concerns and questions they may have with respect to what is in the studies or not.
For this new process, Ollenberger said from the start it is an open book and both parties are involved in selecting the consultants and setting parameters for what they do. If either side is not happy with the direction being taken, it can be adjusted at the beginning, instead of addressed at the end.
“That way, before any technical studies are started we know the questions the Town has are addressed and they hear the results at the same time as me,” he said. “I cannot say I am not anxious at times with that, but it is what it is.”
Ollenberger said one of the key aspects of the new process is that all the questions are being asked in the room at the same time and issues can be resolved earlier in the process rather than after an official application for the ASP has been made.
“I think everyone wants to see a common resolution even though we may not agree on every detail,” he said. “I think (the advisory group) is surprised at the level of transparency we are showing in front of them.”
The group’s first question, said Ollenberger, concerns where will the wildlife corridor boundaries be in sites 7, 8 and 9 – the remaining lands left to go through the planning process.
Woitenko added while the group has been deciding how the process will work, actual discussions on content, and especially wildlife corridors, have yet to occur. But she said they have reviewed background documents and the history of the development in detail – including things like the NRCB decision – and members of the group are free to ask questions of the developer and the municipality.
“We are having some very difficult conversations, but the idea really is to have those conversations early, work through them and come up with solutions that work for everyone,” she said.
