Editor:
The 1992 Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) decision clearly stated the Town of Canmore’s authority regarding Three Sisters development in Section 7.2 of their report that “an order of the Board is not finally determinative of whether the project may proceed” in part because the Town’s planning processes “...could result in the complete rejection of any or all of the project.”?
In 1996, the province adopted Section 619 stating that decisions of the NRCB – and other government bodies – take precedence over any municipal land-use decisions. A land-use dispute between Three Sisters and the Town in 1998 raised the question of the relevance of the NRCB’s 1992 decision and whether or not Section 619 was retroactive to that decision. The Town successfully filed a leave to appeal to appeal that question to the Alberta Court of Appeal asserting – among other things – that Section 619 was not retroactive and therefore not applicable to the 1992 NRCB decision on Three Sisters.
The question of retroactivity was not settled by the courts in 1998 as the Town and Three Sisters reached an out-of-court agreement known as the settlement agreement. Significantly, this agreement spelled out Three Sisters’ and the Town’s mutual understanding of what the NRCB had approved and the framework for the approval was – and is – incorporated into the Town’s land use bylaw.
The 2004 Resort Centre area structure plan, submitted by Three Sisters and approved by the Town, flowed from the Settlement Agreement and, as a resort development, was seen by both parties as consistent with the NRCB approval.
In stark contrast, in 2020 when Town administration reviewed the Three Sisters Village ASP proposed by Three Sisters to replace the Resort Centre ASP, administration’s report to council stated this was no longer a resort proposal but primarily a residential development with a commercial component. Such a residential proposal would not even have been within the NRCB’s jurisdiction in 1992.
The May 26 Outlook editorial suggests the LRPT decisions make the proposed Three Sisters plans essentially a done deal. I suggest a court’s broader perspective and mandate, the clarity of the NRCB’s intended role for the Town, the context of the 1992 NRCB decision report, and the Town’s previous successful leave to appeal, offers the Town a reasonable chance of success in launching and winning an appeal.
Steve de Keijzer,
Canmore
