Land Use

Looking west from the Brocket hill towards Crowsnest Pass you can see Turtle Mountain just left of centre in this photo (click the pic to see a larger image).

One can guess from this picture that there would not be an overabundance of land available for development in this pass through the Rockies and one would not be far from wrong. Crowsnest Pass is about 33 kilometres long and up to 16 km wide and currently houses approximately 5800 full time and ove 20% more weekend or part time residents, most of whom live in the current urban areas of the pass in single family residences. Our land base is constricted with, steep slopes, important wildlife habitat, wildlife corridors, and property owned by Alberta Sustainable Resource Development. If the Pass is to grow in a sustainable fashion responsible land use planning is critical.

Drive out of Calgary in any direction and once you leave the urban sprawl you will see the obscene spread of country residential development on land that was once used for growing grain or raising cattle. Those acreages are located with the Municipal District of Rocky View which surrounds the city of Calgary. That MD does not have the restraints on developable land our Pass does. If they wished, and landowners desired more subdivisions, they could develop in this fashion, taking away agricultural land and open spaces, for a very long time. The people and council of Rocky View recognized the waste and just recently their municipal council adopted a new Municipal Development Plan stopping country residential development in favour of higher density development within the existing villages located in the MD. They chose to decide how they should grow.

Here at home council, in the past month, approved extending the reach of country residential development into one of the few remaining areas of the Pass not already zoned Grouped Country Residential with the rezoning and subsequent approval of an area structure plan for country residential development at the north east end of our municipality along Gold Creek. Council subsequently cut funding for a new municipal development plan from the budget and went on to approve that budget.

The Regional Advisory Council of the Land Use Framework will be considering MDPs as part of their local consultation process. The adoption of a new MDP, here, developed with full public consultation would have given our municipality the statutory documentation needed to show the RAC what the people of Crowsnest Pass want to see in terms of responsible land use. Our collective voice would not be ignored in Land Use Framework deliberations.

Fortunately, the Province is taking land use seriously. The Land Use Framework appears to be based on strong conservation values and much of what many (including myself) have been advocating will likely be achieved through the Land Use Framework process. Sadly, though, we have to wait for the Province to pick up were we failed.

A press release and background information on the Alberta Land Stewardship Act can be found here http://www3.telus.net/garytaje/Landuse/ In the folder you will find a number of pdf files. They are arranged in proper order for reading

Land Use in Crowsnest Pass

Area pictured below is going to be at the epicentre of land use debate in Crowsnest Pass.

Past council was defined by opening the door to development and growth in Crowsnest Pass. Our current council will be defined by how well we prepare for the future of our home and how well we manage and control the growth and development of this beautiful and important corridor through the Rockies. Pass residents, council, and the different local stakeholders have to be very cognizant of the fact many diverse interests have their eye on this last mountain pass through the Rockies in Alberta that is not a national park. It is critical we do things right.

The area pictured has been named the "West Block" by conservation groups. They have determined it is critical for the north south movement of large ungulates and large carnivores. Most Pass residents know it is a significant corridor and important winter range for elk herds. The area is also some of our most desirable developable lands. In an earlier post on Sawback Ridge I talked of how much land would be needed to the accommodate the number of country residential residences that the higher density Sawbuck ridge provided for. One quarter of the flatter open land pictured could have been lost to provide a couple hundred homes. Here, then, is the conundrum. How do we allow for growth yet protect critical wildlife habitat?

Our municipality, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and Community Futures Crowsnest Pass recognized the need to work together in finding answers to that question and commissioned the Miistakis Institute to develop a tool that would assist us in that process. (I am trying to acquire the power point presentation explaining the development of the software to post here) In a nutshell the tool is a compilation of data that is important to development and conservation considerations. It can not be used on a case by case basis as the output is determined by priorities inputted by the operator of the software. It is to be used as a consensus building aid to determine the values the community feels to be important in determining the future of our home.

The municipality has endorsed the creation of an adhoc committee co-chaired by myself and Larry Simpson of the Nature Conservancy to develop, with the help of this mapping tool, a vision or visions for the future development of the Pass. The committee is a very diverse group of individuals. It is comprised of conservationists, environmentalists, land owners, industrialists, and individuals working for affected government agencies. To assist the committee are a number experts in fields relating to development and conservation issues. The committee did meet a number of times last year until logistical problems arose that needed clarifying and correction. With those problems being taken care of our group will be getting back to work in the coming weeks.

The committee's work will be brought to the people of Crowsnest Pass for their consideration and input. This process should enable us to determine a collective vision that will form the basis for a new municipal development plan.