The proposed Glenbow Ranch Area Structure Plan (GRASP) continues to draw serious concern from members of Rocky View Forward.
The grassroots group of Rocky View County residents seeking to make the county more accountable and transparent issued a recent statement indicating they are “unable to support GRASP.”
Cochrane town council is also not in support of the proposed development, which plans to add in excess of 14,000 people on the town’s eastern borders.
A public hearing for the highly-contentious Glenbow Ranch Area Structure Plan (GRASP) will be held April 25 in Rocky View County council chambers at 10 a.m.
“Cochrane says no, Calgary says no … it offers no infrastructure of its own,” said Samanntha Wright, Bearspaw resident and member of Rocky View Forward, adding that the “piecemeal” plan “cherry picks” elements of policy that would enable a handful of landowners to develop, while maintaining “no regard for the county’s agricultural base.”
Wright said the argument of offering a complete community with the proposed centralized high density location is unnecessary given that existing Bearspaw communities are “nowhere near” built to capacity.
According to the statement issued by Rocky View Forward:
“GRASP is only being entertained because of intense lobbying on behalf of those landowners during the County Plan process. Despite this lobbying, there is no evidence that this area has ever been designated as a growth node or hamlet in any current policy.”
The group maintains that the “rush” to get the plan approved “appears to be to beat the city to the punch” – with reference to taking some of the future development away from Calgary’s future planned growth.
The group is also concerned about the traffic on Highway 1A; the environmental problems that could result from building on slopes; the complexities of the “misleading” transferable development credit program where half the land would not be developed and would be preserved in the name of the Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park; and the infrastructure burden on nearby communities such as Cochrane.
Proponents of the GRASP argue it offers protection for the provincial park.
Concerns should be directed to [email protected].
