Rocky View County (RVC) council agreed to donate money to help the Cochrane and District Ag Society (CDAS) to put a new roof on its indoor riding arena, but it also issued a challenge to the Town of Cochrane to step up.
Dale Palmer, first vice-president of CDAS, made the Society’s pitch to RVC council at its June 19 Recreation Governance Committee meeting. The original request Palmer made was for $100,000.
Before making his ask, Palmer was quick to express the Society’s gratitude to Rocky View County, which not only sold CDAS the land (an estimated $8 million value) in it uses to the organization for one dollar back in 2020, but has consistently provided grant funding over the years to the tune of $825,000.
“You have been, and continue to be, one of our biggest supporters, and for that I want to thank you,” Palmer told the Governance Committee. “There has been no bigger gift from this council than the gift of the land for one dollar. That was a monumental point in our history, and we couldn’t have done it without your support, and without your generous gift.”
Palmer hoped that the generous streak would continue if the County could provide $100,000 of the total cost of replacing the roof which is estimated at $444,500.
Palmer noted many CDAS members and many of its regular users are from Rocky View County. CDAS provided statistics to the committee which showed the riding facility had 4,000 users per year, of which 75 per cent were from Rocky View County.
However, committee members were not completely sold on the idea of providing such a substantial portion of the roof replacement costs. Deputy Reeve and Division 2 Coun. Don Kochan noted RVC had provided $38,000 to CDAS to repair this same roof in 2019. He also wondered what the Town of Cochrane was contributing to the project, given the Ag Society grounds were in Cochrane and the organization was a Cochrane-based one.
Palmer said the Town had committed to no property taxes or levies for the Ag Society grounds, as well as being in discussion with CDAS about potential servicing agreements for water, gas and sewer, which may end up totalling around $8 to $10 million in benefits for the Society when all is said and done.
Reeve and Division 3 Coun. Crystal Kissel, who lives near Cochrane and uses the riding facility, said promises and projections did not translate into grant dollars for much needed infrastructure repairs.
“What we heard in the presentation is there is a promise in the Town of Cochrane in the future on levies or water, gas, wastewater– it’s a promise,” she said. “But Rocky View County had never charged the Ag Society taxes. We have looked after that for all the years they have been there. And the other thing is (the land) was an $8 million gift. So I kind of feel we have done our end, and the other side of it (from the Town) is a promise.”
Kissel then proposed a motion that RVC would donate $50,000 to the project only if those funds were matched by the Town of Cochrane.
“The Town of Cochrane benefits greatly from this piece of property,” she said. “From all the traffic that comes through, the hotels that are filled, the meals that are done, the shopping that happens … They have a benefit from that.”
“I have thought about this,” Kissel later added, “and I think this is a fair way to do business.”
The RVC Recreation Governance Committee then voted unanimously to approve Kissel’s motion.
