COCHRANE— The fourth go-around on a potential development in the GlenEagles area is set to come before Cochrane Council and a group of residents are making their frustration known.
Glenvista Key resident Gary Kooistra said it is frustrating seeing a land-use redesignation once again coming before Cochrane Council.
“It’s aggravating and torture— It’s been stressful these last five years because you never know what the outcome will be," Kooistra said.
The proposed land use redesignation of Glenvista Peak is being pursued by Valerio Developments Inc., formerly Hazkar Developments, is for a 4.15-acre site known as the Jones Estate Land. The proposed rezoning would allow for the development of eight buildings, housing a total of 16 semi-detached villa-style bungalows.
The road up to the proposed Glenvista Peak area is currently a dead-end street, Kooistra said, and many residents believe there was never any intent to piggyback off the current development for another resident's area.
“The only way to get into that property is through our street, through the right of way that Alberta Transportation granted them and then into that particular property,” he said. “The street was never intended to have another development there.”
The development has been a conversation for five years now, he said, noting the previous three times it has come before the council the proposal it was rejected.
He added, the constant conversation around development in Cochrane is getting exhausting.
Kooistra said he hopes the area is designated a nature reserve that can serve as a park for residents.
“I believe it is a very, very unique piece of land. There’s lots of wildlife going on— That must be considered as well,” Kooistra said. “I would like to see it preserved— Something like Calgary did with Nose Hill.”
B&A Glenvista Peak planning consultant Pamela MacInnis said the latest proposal is unique, because a focus has been placed on providing certainty to the community regarding what will be developed in the area.
“I know in the past there have been a couple of different land-use districts applied for and what happens with the standard residential district is there’s usually a range of housing forms that could be built,” she said. “This time around we’ve written a direct control district that will require the developer to build exactly what we’re telling the community we’re going to build.”
They chose to go this route to provide reassurance to the community while respecting concerns that have been raised in the area.
She added additional studies regarding safety concerns with traffic and concerns with slope stability have taken place to address community anxieties. Studies found no safety concerns and a geotechnical analysis reviewed by the Town’s third-party geotechnical engineer found the ground is safe to develop.
“All of the experts have agreed the ground is stable,” she said.
They are conducting an additional study to determine the water table level that recently wrapped up. They are awaiting the results and they will be released on their website when ready. The results will also be shared with the Town.
“We’re trying to be very, very transparent with this application because we know there’s so much community concern about it,” MacInnis said.
Based on the application only one-story bungalows can be built to lessen the impact for those who are concerned about homes looking down the hill. The new development proposal also includes an increase from 11 proposed units on the site to 16. She added that if the community is approved for development it will be geared towards empty nesters and seniors.
Town of Cochrane acting general manager of development and community services Riley Welden said the rezoning application was given to the Town of Cochrane on June 15. The last redesignation request took place in 2018.
This will mark the fourth time it has appeared before the council. There is also no time limit on when a reapplication can take place if the original request is rejected, and there is no limit on the number of applications that can be made for a site.
The application is similar to past iterations in that it is looking to re-designate the site from its urban reserve district to a residential district.
The direct control district would serve as a customized land use district for developers. It allows for a very specific land use district to be applied to on a specific piece of land, he said, in this case, the Glenvista Peak property.
“We’re going through the process. When the application is ready we will be bringing it forward to council,” Welden said.
A concerned resident from GlenEagles Robert McCrank said most people have no desire to see the Glenvista Peak development take root.
He has been in the area since 2007, he said, and it has been frustrating dealing with the repeated land use amendment requests because there never seems to be consistency.
McCrank said he understands the owners want to get the best value out of the property, but they also created this situation because they did not anticipate creating Glenvista Peaks in the early development of the GlenEagles community.
He added some residents, especially those in the Vistas, feel they will be negatively affected by traffic both during construction and the additional traffic that will travel on the narrow street when the development is completed. There are also concerns about the noise of construction, debris and damage to fences and other existing amenities could occur.
“There’s nothing new here,” McCrank said. “We don’t think there’s any reason council would approve something they’re rejected before.”
