The long-awaited County Plan was given the stamp of approval by Rocky View County (RVC) council Oct. 1, but not without several changes.
“It was a long process and it feels pretty good to see it through. We hope we captured the general consensus of residents in the plan,” said RVC senior planner and project manager Richard Barss.
“We built into the plan the notion that we come back every year and see how the plan is doing and how everything is developing on a yearly basis. It’s an opportunity to assess the plan,” he added.
Following a year of public consultation to determine how residents want the county to grow over the next decade, the County Plan was first presented to council Sept. 10 and administration recommended it be adopted without amendments.
Several councillors proposed 10 changes to the document Sept. 10, which were debated for four hours to make it onto the short list.
After a pre-vote, only half-a-dozen changes made it before council Oct. 1 to be voted on as an inclusion to the County Plan.
The 105-page document encourages a moderate growth rate of 2.5 to three per cent of the region’s growth over the next 10 years, residential growth and business development in designated areas of the county and development costs be absorbed by the developer, among many other principles.
Barss said in his presentation to council administration still recommended the plan be adopted as is, but council approved the changes.
Four Highway Business Areas were added to the list of six existing areas already identified in the County Plan. Three are located in the Conrich area: Highway 1 south of Conrich; east of the Airport Trail and Stoney Trail intersection; and east of Country Hills Boulevard and Stoney Trail.
“These areas were previously identified in the 2009 Growth Management Strategy. We’re planting our flag saying Rocky View has an interest in developing something there,” said councillor Lois Habberfield.
“We do need to put them on the map, but whether they develop or not is another question for a future council to decide, and there will be lots of steps in between. If we want to pull the flag out later then fine, but they need to be there today,” she added.
Earl Solberg, councillor for the division, agreed with Habberfield.
“There’s so much history in this area, I can’t even see why people would consider keeping this area out (as an identified Highway Business Area).”
The County Plan in now a statutory document and replaces the previous plan that was adopted in 1998.
