Despite the divided opinion of Cochrane town council members, the Southbow Landing Neighbourhood plan has finally been approved after months of discussion, with four councillors approving the plan and three opposed at the Oct. 26 council meeting.
Mayor Ivan Brooker, Coun. Mary Lou Davis-Eckmeier, Coun. Tara McFadden and Coun. Ross Watson voted in favour of the new neigbourhood after a long discussion about infrastructure, traffic and wetlands. Brooker encouraged councillors to focus on the bigger picture of the neighbourhood plan – one that would bring in approximately another 9,000 residents to the town and help create some much-needed traffic infrastructure, such as another bridge.
The senior manager in development services for the town, Drew Hyndman, presented a slideshow addressing three amendments that were brought up the last time the neighbourhood plan was discussed. When the plan was last brought up at the Sept. 28 council meeting, one of the major amendments was to bring in a third-party consultant to research and discuss a wetland mitigation strategy. Karen Oldershaw, senior environmental specialist from Westhoff Engineer Resources Inc., was in attendance answering councillors’ questions.
Hyndman also reminded council that approval for the plan meant agreeing with the vision of the neighbourhood plan, stating that it was highly conceptual and could be subject to change. But the planning process could not continue until the plan was approved – promoting the next step of land-use bylaws that would also be mayor-and-council decisions with the help of community input before moving forward with development.
Coun. Gaynor Levisky, Coun. Morgan Nagel and Coun. Jeff Toews voted against the plan. Toews and Levisky stated they were not comfortable with the plan; Levisky saying she was uncomfortable from an environmental standpoint. Toews said he had been asking a variety of pre-development questions with no answers, and was “uncomfortable for so many reasons.” Toews also disagreed with the conceptual design, calling the new neighbourhood “cookie-cutter.” Nagel disagreed with the plan, stating that adding a new bridge would not solve the traffic concerns but, instead, twinning the highways would be a solution. “Do I agree with this plan? Yes. Is Cochrane ready? No,” Nagel said.
Cochrane Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) approached mayor and council to request a funding increase for the program. Manager of FCSS Susan Flowers was in attendance, stating the program has not asked for an increase in it’s funding from the town in the last eight years. In a press release, Human Services Minister Irfan Sabir announced that FCSS programs would receive an additional $10 million, allocating $86,000 to the Town of Cochrane due to its substantial population growth. Last year, FCSS received $301,000 from the town’s budget – with an $86,000 increase for the 2016 budget. Council approved the requested.
The town’s financial services staff presented the 2016 draft budget. The budget is expecting $46.8 million revenue with the same amount for expenditures. There is also a proposed tax increase of 1.3 per cent for 2016.
The budget breakdown:
21 per cent – protective services, police, fire and municipal enforcement.
20 per cent – community services, parks, town facilities, recreation and culture, cemeteries, and FCSS.
18 per cent – water and wastewater.
15 per cent – general government and corporate services.
10 per cent – roads and sewer.
7 per cent – planning, engineering and economic development.
6 per cent – waste and recycling.
2 per cent – community grants and library.
1 per cent – council.
Council accepted the proposed budget as information and set special meetings Nov. 20-21 from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. to debate the budget proposal.
Mayor and council were presented with an award of planning merit, in the special study category, “Cochrane Community Revitalization Levy Area Plan,” presented by Alberta Professional Planners, including former town employee Stephen Utz.
Stockmen’s Memorial Foundation president Don Hepburn appeared before mayor and council to request $35,000 from the 2016 budget for the foundation. Before the presentation, Hepburn presented mayor and council with a framed photograph as a gift to the town for all the support over the years. The Stockmen’s Memorial Foundation has been operating for 35 years with approximately 150 current members.
Cochrane Light-Up organizers approached mayor and council to request $1,575 to cover the cost of portable toilet rental for the annual event. Organizer Marni Fedeyko said the committee has been noticing a decline in donations this year due to the economic downturn and is in the process of determining how to stabilize costs; one of them being to ask the town for funding. The request was unanimously approved by council with several councillors commenting on how the event is “wonderful” and “fantastic.”
Cochrane Tourism and the Cochrane and Area Humane Society also approached mayor and council to present operating grant requests. Cochrane Tourism requested $52,700 from the 2016 budget – also announcing there will be new projects in the new year, including two new campaigns “This is your stomping grounds” and “Be a Tourist in your own Town” as well as a website redesign for the Cochrane Tourism website. The Cochrane and Area Humane Society requested $30,000 for 2016. Both requests were accepted as information for the Oct. 26 council meeting.
