Southland Transportation Ltd. won’t be building a bus depot/maintenance yard at the annexed lands north of Heritage Hills.
Town council decided Monday night (Mar. 9) that a small direct control district, which would have accommodated Southland, is off the books. Council agreed with a proposed amendment by planning services to designate the 160-acre parcel of land as a public service district.
The land will still accommodate the Horse Creek Sports Park and high school to build in the future, but excludes the seven acre Direct Control (DC-1) district set aside for Southland’s development.
Riley Welden, acting general manager of development and community services, presented a report to council and the findings of a recent Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) and concerns raised by the Heritage Hills Community Association and the community’s residents to council.
The main concern by the association and nearby residents is the potential impact of Southland Transportation’s buses and the additional traffic generated by the future sports park and high school on the road network in Heritage Hills and Highway 1A.
The TIA made several recommendations including: Highway 1A and 22 interchange; twinning of Highway 1A from the interchange to Horse Creek Road; creating an additional access off of Highway 1A east or Heritage Gate/Heartland Blvd. that will provide access to Heritage Hills on the north and Heartland to the south; and the urbanization of Township Road 262 from a gravel road to a four line collector road from Horse Creek Road to Range Road 43.
The TIA stated that the additional traffic from the future development could only be accommodated if their recommended network improvements are in place. At the moment Highway 1A is not twinned from the Highway 22/1A intersection to Horse Creek Road and the anticipated interchange improvement will only accommodate twinning a few hundred metres east from the existing intersection.
The TIA adds: “Township Road 262 is a rural standard road that cannot accommodate additional bus traffic in its current condition. The Town does not have a plan to upgrade this road in the foreseeable future. The timing of the construction of the future access off of 1A into the Heritage Hills Community is dependent on future development of the community and therefore has an indefinite timeline.”
Welden said twinning the remaining area of Horse Creek Road is not included in the current interchange project and isn’t in the budget for the town. The road is a provincial highway, is funded by the province, and might be added to the province's budget in the future.
“We do not have plans to upgrade that,” he said.
He noted that the northwest corner of the land has a grade change and additional costs are required to build infrastructure to overcome “pressure zones”. He explained that pressure is required to move water uphill.
“As a result of traffic impact assessment and costs associated with servicing that northwest corner of the site, administration recommends that the bylaw be amended to delete the Control District 1 from the bylaw and apply the public service district to the entire quarter section”, Welden told council.
Councillor Alex Reed applauded town administration for working with a community group and bringing a bit of closure to residents.
“I think the residents spoke loud and clear,” said Councillor Marni Fedeyko.
In June of 2019 council adopted the Horse Creek Sports Park master site plan for the site. The plan outlines a comprehensive sports park, high school, and two maintenance yards. The yards are located at the northwest corner, 650 metres away from residences in Heritage Hills south of the quarter section.
Southland has outgrown their current bus storage yard on Griffin Rd. off River Ave. and, through consultations with the town, have been looking for a suitable property to meet their needs. They have apparently looked at 20 potential sites, but would prefer a location in Cochrane.
Town administration is currently assisting Southland in securing a new site.
