Kevin Hanson – Division 1
Quick Bits
I met with the newly reactivated Bragg Creek Environmental Coalition on September 21st, to help them get coordinated for how and who to interact with at Rocky View Administration, as they will have touch points into a number of different departments. I am sure you will be hearing more from them in the months ahead as they gain momentum.
Rocky View Foundation New Hire
The County’s overarching provincial Housing Management Body has expanded their organizational capacity by hiring a new Chief Operating Officer. Chris Rowe comes with an MBA, strong Financial
and HR experience, and has worked in private sector, municipal, and First Nations affordable housing sectors. He started with the Foundation in late August and has hit the ground running. He was in place in time to help welcome Abrio Place’s first tranche of residents move in at the beginning of September and help put the final touches on our just-submitted Provincial grant application for the new Big Hill Lodge in Cochrane. We have had our first RVF Board meeting with him at the table, and I am certain the additional capacity at the Foundation’s executive level will accelerate work towards the Senior’s lodge in Bragg Creek.
The official opening of Abrio Place in Airdrie will be sometime in late October or early November. As an aside, Chef Mathew, of Glencoe Club fame, is in charge of the shiny new Abrio kitchen, and I can attest for the quality being delivered. Apparently, word is out on the street that the meals are awesome, which is the best form of advertising. With all the new staff hired for Abrio, RVF now has over 100 employees.
West Bragg Secondary Access
I introduced a Notice of Motion a while back requesting a status report on the West Bragg secondary access, since discussions with Tsuut’ina had not progressed in a number of years. A report was delivered to Governance Committee on September 12th that updated Councillors on the history of the issue, some rough updated cost estimates for the preferred route (Wintergreen), and a recommendation that one of the original options (7B) and two new bridging options within the hamlet be explored further. I garnered enough support to have the committee recommend that Administration bring a motion to Council to move forward on the further development of the 3 options.
This work does not handcuff RVC, the original option is still on the table if discussions with Tsuut’ina progress in that matter. There is a comprehensive article in Rocky View Weekly related to this, as well the report administration presented is available on in the agenda available on the RVC website.
Bragg Creek Expansion Lands ASP Study
Council paused work on all ASP’s some time ago, with the exception of Springbank, Conrich and Janet. At the September 19th Council meeting, Administration provided a report outlining how just simply resuming the “on-pause” ASP update as a stand-alone matter at this point more would compromise RVC ending up with a good piece of work.
Their recommendation was to rescind the current Terms of Reference for that work, and in its place bring a new terms of reference forward that expands scope. Namely, an update for the entire Bragg Creek ASP. I fully supported this. With the flood mitigation complete, a new multi- pronged economic development strategy soon in hand, utility servicing challenges, and the Gateway development changing the hamlet core, all of this should be considered as new information for the planning process. The new terms are due by January 30, 2024.
Contact: KRHanson@RockyView.ca or call 403.463.1166.
