Cochrane council unanimously approved first reading of a borrowing bylaw to fund site development at Horse Creek Sports Park at its March 24 meeting.
The Town will borrow $11.43 million to be paid off over 20 years and will add another $600,000 to fund the project from the Municipal Infrastructure Reserve (MRI).
The funding will be used to service and prepare the site for a future high school as well as the public sports park in coordination with Rocky View Schools.
According to CAO Mike Derricott, the Town has cleared a significant hurdle in acquiring clear title to the land that will be used for the future sports park, which is set to share the site with the new high school when it is built.
The current interest rate set by the Province for the loan term is 4.94 per cent, but it may still drop lower by the end of the month, Town administration speculated.
While first reading had unanimous support on council, some wondered if the incoming changes to the offsite levy bylaw would apply for Cochranites in this instance so the loan could be serviced directly by taxpayers through those funds.
“Will this be coming back prior to seeing the offsite levy bylaw review?” asked Coun. Marni Fedeyko. “Will we be voting for second and third reading prior to us seeing that?”
“This particular project is not offsite levy funded project,” Derricott confirmed.
Fedeyko said nonetheless she would like to see how it stacked up against all of the Town’s financials prior to second and third reading.
Mayor Jeff Genung reminded councillors that the Horse Creek Sports Park concept came about because of the clear opportunity presented by working with Rocky View Schools, in this instance to meet the growth needs by both parties.
“The whole reason this Horse Creek Sports Park was even a conversation because of the agreement with the Town and the Rocky View School (RVS) division to carve off the 30 acres for a future high school and for recreation on our side,” he said. “This is for servicing and grading that property so we can fill the obligation and provide that as part of the land transfer … So this is to do our part and get the high school built as soon as possible.”
Town administration confirmed this money was only for the servicing, and not toward construction of the Horse Creek Sports Park itself, which is contingent on the RVS getting funding to build a new high school on site. By servicing the land, RVS can approach the Province with a shovel-ready site already in place.
