The public hearing on the Dead Man's Flats Area Structure Plan was swarmed with opposition in an attempt to have the potential development re-examined.
The public hearing on the Dead Man's Flats Area Structure Plan was swarmed with opposition in an attempt to have the potential development re-examined.
Notable opposition came from the Town of Canmore, which had a stern warning for the MD of Bighorn at the July 22 public hearing that an appeal to a governing body would be imminent on the area structure plan (ASP) should it move forward.
Last month, MD council passed first reading for the ASP in separated north and east areas of the hamlet. The ASP would open up doors for light-commercial and recreational development and provide an economic value to the MD.
The MD is in the process of reviewing all comments at the public hearing and tentative second reading on the debated ASP may possibly be scheduled as soon as this fall at the MD's regular meeting.
The MD heard objections to the ASP for 29 hectares of developable land as members of the public, wildlife organizations, developers, local businesses and neighbouring municipalities forwarded concerns.
MD Reeve Dene Cooper said in a February 2015 interview with the Outlook, the municipality has a limited supply of developable land remaining and the ASP allows the MD to create a plan for future development at Dead Man's Flats (DMF) that will meet the long-term fiscal objectives of the MD.
However, the hot topic ASP has come under scrutiny as opponents say it will adversely affect the east wildlife underpass and wildlife corridor in the hamlet -recognized as a Bow Valley habitat patch.
Canmore Mayor John Borrowman was one of the first to speak out against the ASP on behalf of the Town, saying his initial response to it was “quite dramatic and negative” and during the hearing urged the MD to give mediation on the matter prior to the second reading.
“The (DMF ASP) would potentially negate all of the work the Town has undertaken to ensure the preservation and function of the G8 highway underpass and critical wildlife corridor link between the Wind Valley Regional Habitat Patch and the Bow Flats Regional Habitat Patch,” said Borrowman, reading from an opposition letter to the MD. The Wind Valley habitat patch runs directly into DMF from a south entrance to the underpass.
“It is our intent to file an appeal to the Municipal Government Board if the MD goes forward with the ASP.”
Borrowman noted the Bow Corridor Ecosystem Advisory Group's (BCEAG) guidelines were conflicting with the MD's Municipal Development Plan. The 2012 guidelines state land management agencies to apply a consistent approach based on current information that will ensure the viability of wildlife corridors and habitat patches in the Bow Valley.
The MD shot back stating it never accepted the terms of the 2012 BCEAG guidelines nor did it submit anything indicating that was the direction it would go.
The wildlife underpass, located under the busy Trans-Canada Highway in the east portion of DMF, was completed in 2005, at a cost of $1.8 million.
Karsten Heuer, a biologist and director with the Bow Valley Naturalists, said the MD has found itself in a “short-term sweet spot” with the booming hamlet. He said there should be consistency with MD councils past and present and the thought process should focus on the long-term.
Heuer presented statistics to the hearing, which showed since the underpass was completed, wildlife use increased steadily until 2011, peaking at 684 events. Since, it has steadily decreased to just 284 events in 2014.
“This is right from (Alberta Environmental and Sustainable Resource Development) yesterday. You're seeing since activity happened like the stockpiling of construction waste and such, in the mouth of the underpass right now, under your authority, the use of the underpass has already diminished,” Heuer said. “So here we have a preview of what could actually happen with actual development in that underpass.”
Other stats presented by Heuer on the underpass suggested approximately $85,000 is being saved per year as a long-term average on property damage, human injury and hunting revenue from road kills by having the functional corridor underpass, adding there have been over 6,500 passages of wildlife in the area in the past six years.
MD Councillor Paul Ryan sited the 2002 regional wildlife corridor study that examined the movement of wildlife in the DMF vicinity.
The study suggested a corridor on either side of DMF would have been appropriate. It also determined that animal deaths occurred more on the east side of the DMF overpass during the study in previous years.
“My concern is, while it seems to be entirely acceptable to use a fence to direct the animals to an animal underpass, it's not acceptable to use a fence to direct them away from it,” said Ryan.
“Can you help me understand why you can use a fence on the south side to direct them to the animal underpass and why we can't use one on the north side to direct them back in the areas they were headed to in the first place?”
As the speakers presented wildlife arguments against moving forward with the ASP, many stated they were in favour of the MD and the Province re-opening negotiations of a land swap that failed to occur in over a decade of on and off negotiations. The land swap would trade the debated DMF land for another parcel of land in the MD.
On the developers' side, both Frank Kernick, a partner in the River's Bend Development in DMF, and Chris Ollenberger, QuantumPlace managing principal, representing Three Sisters Mountain Village and Thunderstone Quarry, are in support of land swap negotiations re-starting between the MD and Province. The developers also both said there could be some tweaks and retouches to ASP.
Ollenberger's lone request to the MD is to find a balance and keep the connectivity going with the corridor and underpass.
“I think, really, my owners' interest is that balance is needed to keep the corridor working ... but at a common sense point of view if (the wildlife underpass is) able to function, we'd certainly appreciate that,” Ollenberger said.
Kernick requested that should the ASP move forward there be some retouches to ensure that River's Bend residents promised a buffer zone would receive it.
“When we purchased the lands ... we were told that the lands around it were going to be left as undeveloped for wildlife and those needs because at that time (the MD) were in negotiations with the Province and to everyone's understanding you were going forward in that direction,” Kernick said.
Kernick offered a plan ‘B' for the MD's consideration if present lands swap negotiations with the Province fail. If they can't swap all the land, then swap some in the east portion.
The developer pointed out a large parcel of land owned by Alberta Transportation along the north side of 2 Avenue - east of Pigeon Creek Condos. Kernick says because of the 2013 floods, River's Bend had to redo the road leading into residential development and thinks the land could be swapped and converted into commercial land.
In 2012, Bighorn and Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development signed a “terms and conditions” letter, agreeing on the belief that the exchange of 71 acres of land would eventually happen at DMF for developable Crown land of equal market value located elsewhere in the Bow Valley.
The “terms and conditions” letter, however, also required authorization from Alberta Tourism Parks and Recreation, since some of the Crown lands involved in the exchange were under the wildland park designation.
Christine Cusanelli, former Minister of Tourism Parks and Recreation declined to sign, as did her successor, Richard Starke a few months later. Since that time, successive provincial ministries have been unable or unwilling to secure lands for Bighorn to complete the land exchange.
A new NDP government may shed new ideas on the lands swap negotiations, should talks restart.
