COCHRANE— The final round of public engagement regarding the potential future area structure plan of Mount St. Francis South Lands closes at the end of the month.
“By looking at their land and determining potential future use opportunities it not only gives them some security in the future but it also provides a plan for the Town of Cochrane and the region,” said Tamille Beynon communications and engagement advisor with the project.
The Holy Spirit Province of Canada consists of western and eastern Franciscan friars. An Ad Hoc committee was formed which include Friars, B&A Planning Group and an advisor to the Franciscans. The Franciscans own 450 acres of land which runs into Rocky View County where Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre is located.
The area structure plan that has been drafted for the project focuses on 140 acres of benchlands (South Lands) within the boundaries of the Town of Cochrane.
Currently, there are no further steps planned after securing the area structure plan, Beynon said.
The project has been ongoing since 2017 and began with an exploration of the land.
It is a part of an overall assessment of Fransican's land ownings across Canada.
Due to COVID-19 and the challenges created by the virus, they were forced to host an online public awareness campaign, Beyon said, in place of the preferred meeting in-person.
“We’re realizing now that by moving it online we’ve actually opened up the timelines for people to participate,” Beynon said, explaining that people have had two weeks to visit the website, learn about the project and fill out a survey sharing their opinion. “Our attendance and participation has really increased through online engagement— It’s been a successful engagement program when you consider participation.”
To date, more than 300 survey responses have been received.
The survey is part of the organization's commitment to sharing information to ensure the town is aware of potential plans and that the community has time to engage in dialogue and share their thoughts.
“The Franciscans have lived there for 70 years and they have strong relationships with their neighbours,” Beynon said. ”They want to continue that relationship understanding that this project has some emotional sensitivity to it.”
Beynon noted that should the plan be approved around 100 acres would be donated to the Town of Cochrane to serve as preserved environmental land if they decide to move forward with any changes to the landscape in the future.
“People are already walking on and enjoying the land and they don’t want to lose that,” Beynon said. “But, the land is privately owned and by going through this process it actually would open it up for public access— We want people to have access to the land.”
She added that the survey has sparked conversation generally centred on concerns surrounding development in Cochrane as a whole.
“That is one thing we’re hearing— The demand on infrastructure with more development,” Beynon said. “A lot of people want to just preserve the land completely.”
Mark Love, advisor to the Franciscans and member of the ad hoc committee, said the group is seeking legal certainty over their property. He noted that economic considerations are in play, but they are not a commercial developer hoping to take the area structure plan and move forward on immediataly commercially developing the land.
“It not something that is going to be perused in the near term as the Franciscans continue to revisit their existence across Canada,” Love said.
In 1949 there were about 550 active Franciscans in Canada, today there are 55 active and about 30 who are retired.
“What the friars want to do is propose a concept that can be vetted in the public arena,” Love said, explaining that comments shared with the public will help refine the basic concept that the Franciscans move forward with.
The area structure plan will be refined based on comments from the public before being submitted to the Town of Cochrane for evaluation.
“It’s a very important piece of property to the residents. It has an important historic legacy. But it’s a very interesting piece of property that has the ability to accommodate the needs a lot of people,” Love said.
The online survey opened on their website mountstfrancis70years.ca/ on June 15 and is available until June 30. If people do not have access to the Internet they can request a hard-copy information package and provide comments over the phone by calling 403-692-5234.
-With files from the Cochrane Eagle
