I was very upset to hear that Rocky View Council will be issuing a request for proposals to sell the land currently occupied by the Cochrane & District Agricultural Society (CDAS). The CDAS is a valuable component of the Rocky View community and has been for years. It provides a very popular multi-functional year-round facility that supports the county’s agricultural traditions and activities. Although it has been reported that Rocky View County determined that this land is surplus to its needs, there is no evidence of any process supporting this determination. There were no public meetings or consultations with county residents or CDAS users. A review of council minutes indicates that council never discussed declaring the CDAS land as surplus. The lack of any apparent substantive process, combined with the now-disclosed fact that there is a developer interested in the land, raises extremely serious concerns in my mind regarding the openness and fairness of council’s dealings on this issue. Simply put, the actions of the majority on council do not appear to pass an elementary “smell test.” As a resident who values the services provided by the CDAS, I am appalled at the cavalier manner in which Rocky View Council appears to be treating the providers of such a valuable recreational site. Rocky View’s Parks & Open Space Master Plan identified a growing need for regional parks and describes them as “offering specialized service that provides recreation needs not available in all areas.” This is a perfect description of what the CDAS offers to area residents. Given this, it is inconceivable to me that the CDAS land could be identified as surplus if there had been an impartial assessment of its value to the community. As a local resident, I would also hope that RV Council acts in my best interest and maximizes the value it obtains from the sale of any truly surplus land. As a result, I am dismayed that council sees it as appropriate to sell this land at one of the worst points in Alberta’s real estate market. Selling it now will not maximize the return for RVC residents. The CDAS has nine years remaining on its current lease. There is no real need to sell the land now rather than later when, hopefully, the market will have improved. However, the only factor that appears to have been relevant to the majority of RV councillors is the fact that there is a developer who would like to buy the land for its own purposes. Since the majority on council have authorized the issuance of requests for proposals for the sale of the land leased to the CDAS, I can only now hope that at least a few more councillors will put the interests of every citizen of Rocky View County ahead of those of one of the area’s developers when they review the proposals.
