Residents of The Willows are raising concern after a notice of application for development in their neighbourhood plans to remove an existing wetland for new housing in the area.
The proposed use in the notice outlines a Neighbourhood Plan amendment that will remove the wetland to facilitate future development in the west portion of The Willows.
Leta Taylor, a resident of The Willows, said it was her family’s understanding when they bought the property directly backing the wetland that it was a preserved wetland.
“My son, daughter, and husband all moved here from Calgary a year and a half ago with the understanding that this Class 4 preserved wetland was going to be directly behind our house,” Taylor said. “And that’s also what the builder told us, so we built our house and we put it right here because the wildlife back here is incredible.”
Taylor explained that the proposal for wetlands, known as Wetlands 80, will allow for its removal and make changes to the land references. She was informed that the wetland located there has extremely reduced water flow due to existing urban development and stormwater systems.
“They redirected the stormwater so it couldn’t come into the wetland, and it’s supposed to be a preserved wetland,” she said. “That is not a preserved wetland. So now, all the water is redirected, and they’re saying because of that, it was determined that the wetland is no longer viable as environmental reserve land.”
With the proposed changes to the Land Use and Neighbourhood Plan amendments, Taylor was told it would intend to complete the development in the remaining lands within the western portion of The Willows, and add park space and community amenities to replace the existing wetlands.
“So, it talks about how they plan to build buildings like condos, townhouses, whatever, directly behind our home,” Taylor said.
From a variety of flora and fauna located right behind their home, Taylour outlines the proposed developments will have repercussions on the local ecosystem.
“There’s a lot in our ecosystem that will be destroyed here because of that,” she said.
Taylor said there was no community involvement prior to the notice of application, and residents only found out about the proposal after seeing the bright orange sign in their community.
“There were no letters sent out to the neighbourhood at all,” she said. “There were only maybe four or five letters that (we) adjacent to [the wetlands] in The Willows got in the mail.”
Taylor outlined that residents of The Willows plan to fight this, and added that the whole ordeal has brought the community closer together, in the hopes of preserving the wetlands.
“Our community comes together in my backyard for [the wetlands] because it’s so beautiful back here,” she said. “It’s brought our community together in so many ways.”
Leta’s 9-year-old son Vance, shared his thoughts on the topic, and outlined that the wetlands behind his home brings Cochrane together and the community really hopes to keep It there.
“We love exploring back there, we go back there a lot, and if I look back there and see condos, I would be really, really sad,” Vance said. “There’d be no more nature in Cochrane, and that’s what Cochrane’s all about.”
Application processing
Executive director of development and infrastructure services for the Town of Cochrane, Drew Hyndman, explained that his team is responsible for dealing with development applications in Cochrane, and that they have received and are now processing an application for The Willows.
“That does impact an existing wetland, [and] that wetland is on private property,” Hyndman said. “However, they are making an application to amend The Willows Neighbourhood Plan, which was adopted by council in 2012, and also do a land use application.”
Hyndman said the existing Neighbourhood Plan identified the area for multi-unit residential cluster development adjacent to the wetland, alongside a gas line that goes through the area.
“In terms of the type of development that’s proposed, my understanding is that they are proposing to have some townhouse developments, multi-unit, as well as stacked townhomes within the development,” Hyndman said. “And primarily, my understanding again, high-level, I’m not working on the application myself, but is also to be rental in nature.”
With housing affordability concerns, Hyndman said the proposal has some benefits for Cochrane as a whole.
“With housing affordability and a diversity of housing stock needed in our community, I think there’s some benefits to having some additional rental opportunities in Cochrane,” Hyndman said.
With the Neighbourhood Plan originally created in 2012, it identified two wetlands in the community and set to be protected long-term.
Due to the decaying health of the wetland in The Willows, Hyndman said the developer contacted Alberta Environment about potentially removing it, and replacing it with open space and amenities that would be consistent with the spirit and intent of the document, provide open-space for adjacent land owners, but would no longer be the original wetland.
As the proposal is currently an application, Hyndman said it is currently in the early stages where both members of the community and the developer share information with one another.
Hyndman said he invites all members of The Willows to visit or call the RancheHouse if they have concerns about the application, and encourages them to attend a future open house to get some additional information. But more than anything, he hopes to see continued involvement from residents of The Willows.
“They’ll have several opportunities from the initial opportunity when the signage goes out, to when the circulations come, and they receive letters at their homes, to sending in comments or concerns,” Hyndman said. “And even asking questions, then participating in the planning process though future public hearings, where they can speak to council who will ultimately be the decision makers.”
Hyndman said both his team and himself want to answer any questions that residents may have about the proposal, and encourages residents of The Willows to bring forward any conversations that they have on the topic.
“So, we want to hear from them, we want them to participate, and we just look forward to supporting that process, and then getting this in front of council where they’ll also have an opportunity to share their ideas with council, and then we’ll get to a better outcome for our community,” Hyndman said.
