Kevin Hanson – Division 1
Quick Bits
I have new insight with respect to the Highway 8 bridge over the Elbow River – based on a personal network conversation about the environmental engineering work for the 2nd span. I will be discussing further with our Administration on how we can potentially approach the Province about win-win dovetailing of our active transportation network plans through this busy corner. This has been a long-standing issue for the County’s communities along the Highway 8 corridor, as well as Clearwater Park and Discovery Ridge in the City. Hopefully more on this in the months to come.
Rural Crime Watch Town-Hall
I have settled on the date for my Rural Crime Watch meeting. It will be on November 20th from 7:00-9:00 pm at the Bragg Creek Community Centre. Presenting at the meeting will be representatives from Rocky View County Enforcement, the Cochrane Foothills Protective Association, and our local RCMP. Everyone in Division 1 or 2 is welcome to attend.
Springbank Area Structure Plan
At the October 2nd Special Council Meeting, Administration presented the latest draft of the Springbank Area Structure Plan and multiple stakeholders gave input during the public hearing. This ASP has been a long time in the works and has been through several iterations as the plan has adapted to strike a balance among Regional Planning requirement realities, existing resident desires, and landowners with further residential or commercial business development aspirations. These iterations have spanned both of my terms on Council.
I continue to be a strong proponent for a single ASP. This would yield better consistency for residential growth policy and ensure a similar look and feel for Country Residential areas on both sides of Highway 1 – building out to a more integrated and complete community. I have also been a strong proponent for improved environmental and watershed protection with belief that updated technical studies will lead to better policy in those areas. I also recognize that the Calgary Metropolitan Regional Growth Plan (RGP) has charged the entire region with becoming more efficient with our land uses, so that we can continue to grow without unsustainable suburban – or in our case “rurban” sprawl – as we absorb the next million residents into the metropolitan region.
Council’s direction May 28, 2024, was to combine the existing Central Springbank, North Springbank, and Moddle ASPs into a single comprehensive document while keeping the direction of the existing land use strategies. Administration also carried forward quality work from prior drafts adding and updating policies to reflect modern standards and planning practices, ensure compliance with the RGP, and remove errors or inconsistencies in the existing ASPs. Significant policy updates from earlier draft ASPs included:
- The requirement for piped servicing of New Residential Areas within the ASP.
- Restricting new institutional uses to business areas and identified lands along Range Road 33.
- Removal of support for new aggregate extraction operations within the ASP boundary.
Although Administration has continuously collaborated with our biggest neighbour throughout the ASP project, it was not until the day of the hearing that Council received a late letter of support from the City of Calgary, that for the first time through the many iterations, could support this draft version:
“With the revisions to the ASP and its requirement to circulate all local plans within the Special Planning Areas, The City is satisfied that its concerns can be addressed through collaborative work as the area develops. This process will enable further assessment of impacts and the development of mitigation measures to ensure that source water quality is maintained.
The City remains concerned that development within the broader plan area may have negative impacts on the Bow and Elbow Rivers, which could detrimentally impact the source drinking water for both our municipalities. These impacts could originate from river access and recreation, private sewage treatment systems, and/or stormwater outfalls. We recognize this is a shared interest that is of upmost importance.”
Receiving this letter is a testament to the effort both municipalities are putting into continuing to build on a collaboration- based relationship with respect to planning for growth in the region.
My perspective on this is that we are earning the trust and respect of the City in our ability to plan for responsible growth (one of this Council’s strategic tenents), and they are willing to leave the execution of planning for the core of Springbank and the Airport to us, while expecting that we will continue to involve and collaborate with them with respect to the Special Planning Areas (Bearspaw Reservoir, RVC-Calgary Intermunicipal Boundary, and Elbow River Watershed) delineated on Map 16 of the Draft.
With the public hearing completed Council has referred the draft back to Administration and has recommended several amendments which will return to Council for consideration no later than November 30, 2024.
Contact: KRHanson@RockyView.ca or call 403.463.1166.
