Questions remain for several Cochrane councillors when it comes to the second stage of development in the Fireside community, which would give a green light to the destruction of wetland #15.
Questions remain for several Cochrane councillors when it comes to the second stage of development in the Fireside community, which would give a green light to the destruction of wetland #15.
Some in the community have been vocal about their displeasure with the wetland being discarded, primarily those in Rolling Range, who feel the loss would result in future flooding issues on their land, north of Fireside.
Jared Kessel, manager of planning for the Town of Cochrane, explained that proper drainage would be installed into the area, and that drainage studies that were completed by the developer - La Vita Land - were corroborated by the town's own contracted professionals.
Cleve Wershler, president of Sweetgrass Consulting Ltd., who was contracted by La Vita Land to provide an in-depth report and classification of the wetlands in the Fireside area, spoke to council and a packed chambers about the condition of wetland #15, which he said has already been compromised beyond repair.
“Depressions are not wetlands, ” said Wershler, explaining that fast runoff has filled the ‘depression' with water, but that the wetland was nothing more than ‘a hole in the ground' with no drainage.
Wershler said that when his company began its study of the wetlands in the Fireside area, wetland #15 was not considered to be a significant wetland, and was nothing like wetland #16, which he called ‘the star of the wetlands' and will be preserved and remain in stage two of development.
Councillor Gaynor Levisky said she did not want councillors to put their heads in the sand and end up dealing with a mess after the developer is long gone; a comment that evoked an applause from many in council chambers.
Spurring council's decision to defer a vote on the next phase of Fireside development, Wershler said that if the town decided to attempt to save wetland #15, it would end up costing a lot of money to maintain it.
“We're not talking small compensations here, ” said Cochrane mayor Ivan Brooker, referring to the projected cost to buy back the land in and around wetland #15 from La Vita Land. Simply guessing on a cost, Brooker said he figured the amount to be in the millions, and that was not including the cost to maintain the wetland if it was to be preserved.
Larry Weiers, a Cochrane resident who wants wetland #15 saved and was present during council's June 23 meeting, said Brooker had no interest in striking a balance or looking for a compromise solution to the disagreement.
“All of the mayor's comments were directed at influencing other councillors to vote with him to approve the plan, ” said Weiers, “including scaring them with a threat of multi-million dollar costs to the town if they didn't fall in line. ”
Weiers also said it was frustrating to hear Brooker, La Vita Land and Sweetgrass all say the wetland is damaged beyond repair “when it was the three of them that orchestrated the damage of the wetland through the bogus harvesting operation. ”
Following an outburst that saw one attendee yell at council that they were ‘destroying our town,' councillor Jeff Toews pleaded with onlookers to respect those who were speaking and that council was listening to the concerns of those in the community.
Toews said he did a tour of Rolling Range following the weekend's rainfall and witnessed no flooding in the area. He also addressed some other concerns he had heard from area residents, including real estate costs, which he said would increase in Rolling Range, not decline.
But everything came back to the hot topic of the night - wetland #15.
“La Vita Land has done everything they've been asked to do up to this point, ” said Toews, adding that nothing, despite how many studies are done, is guaranteed. “No matter where you go in this town, there's a challenge. ”
Councillor Ross Watson said the reason some councillors were considering delaying the vote on stage two of Fireside development was because the issue at hand was a difficult one.
“That ship has sailed, ” Watson said of preserving wetland #15, saying that when he looked at the neighbourhood plan for stage two development, he saw a win.
“The question of drainage has been answered as best it can, ” he said. “We can't engineer a solution. ”
Brooker echoed Watson's sentiment with regards to the development, saying he couldn't believe council was talking about wetland #15 and not all the great features of Fireside stage two.
Following a brief in-camera session spurred by councillor Morgan Nagel to discuss legal issues, council agreed to defer its decision on the development until they were given a cost estimate on how much it would be to save and maintain wetland #15, which will be presented to council July 14.
