Editor:
It is unreasonable to suggest that the majority of Canmore town council was “not very interested in commercial tax expansion” when it decided to postpone first reading of Bylaw 2013Z-23, which would zone 20 cabins adjacent to the Stewart Creek Wildlife Corridor, with proposed all year utilization of the golf and recreation area. Yet this was the assertion made in the Outlook by Chris Ollenberger, the developer who made the application.
Council’s decision to postpone the bylaw until after the election is responsible Town policy.
Canmore’s 1998 Municipal Development Plan (MDP) does not have just an economic pillar; it has environmental and social pillars as well, which are equally important.
In addition to considering the tax revenue from 20 outsize discretional “cabins,” our elected representatives are called by the MDP and the community to be stewards of Canmore’s Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs), of which the Three Sisters Wildlife Corridor is the most significant.
Before giving first reading and calling a public hearing, a responsible council should see that all of the relevant ASP policies are met, the developer’s final Biophysical Impact Statement is in hand, and an independent review is carried out by a qualified professional as stated in the MDP.
None of these were available to Council when they made the wise decision to postpone this cabin Bylaw 2013Z-23 until after the election. The major environmental risk of this development is how close these cabins and their related permitted and discretionary uses are to the Stewart Creek section of the Three Sisters Wildlife Corridor, with their cumulative impacts on wildlife from disturbance and increased human use in the corridors.
The Stewart Creek Golf Course was approved before the NRCB was proclaimed. As a result, over 60 per cent of the Three Sisters Wildlife Corridor lies in the Stewart Creek Golf Course, rendering the corridor only partially functional for wildlife in the summer. However the NRCB does have legal jurisdiction over the entire corridor and its designation.
It is therefore imperative all of the corridor is available for wildlife movement in the fall, winter and spring seasons, and that it is not further compromised in the summer.For this reason, an independent third party review, which considers scientifically determined adjacent uses for this development, is necessary before first reading by council and a public hearing.
Specifically: In accordance with Policy 5.9.2 f) of the ASP, council voted to wait until it had the final version of the developer’s Biophysical Impact Statement in hand, and it is “reviewed by an independent qualified professional selected jointly by the developer and the Town of Canmore to apply the Golder 2002 recommendations of the Golder report as a minimum, and retained solely by the Town of Canmore.”
Council took seriously the fact that providing incomplete information on this bylaw on the Friday before the long weekend was not “public-friendly.”
Council also noted reservations in the Staff Report where some sustainability initiatives from the Sustainable Screening Report were not included in the developer’s draft, and it was only “likely” that concerns regarding the development footprint and sustainability initiatives could be addressed at subsequent readings.
In addition, while the cabins are a discretionary use in the 2004 Stewart Creek ASP, in this proposed 2013 bylaw, the developer has added permitted uses which would impact negatively on the Wildlife Corridor such as “accessory developments” and “parks and playgrounds,” as well as new discretionary uses such as “eating establishments, offices (freestanding), parking areas and structures,” and “personal service business (freestanding)”.
Given the significance of environmentally sensitive areas in our MDP, and to the Canmore community, we are grateful that the majority of Council, as guardians of public process and policy and as stewards of the Three Sisters Wildlife Corridor, have postponed the Bylaw 2013Z-23 until after the election when all of the documents are in hand and the Town polices met before bringing it before the Canmore public in a hearing.
Heather MacFadyen
Chair, Bow Corridor Organization for Responsible Development
