The Quarry is one of the most remarkable reversals of an environmental disaster that a town could hope for. From 1964 to 1988, this 70-acre site in the middle of Cochrane was a wood treatment facility, using creosote, a highly toxic chemical, as a wood preservative. Over this period, the contamination to the site was intense and penetrated the water table deep under the site.
After twenty-four years of polluting this land, Domtar abandoned the site, using only wells on the perimeter to prevent groundwater from seeping off the property. While in operation, the smell from the toxic creosote was prevalent throughout Cochrane and after abandoning the site, the land was unusable and posed a great risk of contaminating surrounding properties.
A portion of the site, where No Frills and Cochrane Movie House are located, had the least amount of contamination and was developed in late 1990 with the remaining 45 acres remaining undeveloped.
In 2010, Springwood Developments paid back taxes owing on the land and entered into an agreement with the Town of Cochrane with a proposal to clean and develop the site. The town’s commitment, under the agreement was to build Center Avenue with services at a cost of $9 million. The Town paid for this work with grant funding and in return Springwood Developments paid for the cost of cleaning the site.
To date, Cochrane has collected $2.6 million in property taxes and anticipates collecting $1.3 million per year after full build-out of the site. The amazing benefit outside of the economic spin-offs is the fact this highly contaminated site was remediated. The remediation process took more than two years, required digging down to depths of more than twenty-eight feet, doing a process of bio remediation and refilling this 45-acre site.
Cochrane is currently in the process of negotiating with CP Rail to build a pedestrian rail crossing from Grande Ave into the Historic Downtown. This new rail crossing, combined with the future development of the old town hall site, will give Cochrane a vital downtown that will support new business opportunities, and a variety of services and shops that will mean Cochrane residents can do all their shopping in Town rather than going into Calgary.
The increased foot traffic in these two areas will result in a revitalization of Cochrane’s Historic Downtown, the place that truly gives our town its charm.
