Sanctuary divides council

Controversial development in Bow Valley given first reading by
4-3 vote

By Darlene Casten
staff reporter

A controversial development in the Bow River Valley has divided the Foothills MD council.
The Sanctuary on the Bow proposal narrowly received approval for its area structure plan and first reading Sept. 6.
Although a number of conditions were tied to the approval, three of the seven councillors were not convinced that the proposed 173-home subdivision near the Deerfoot Trail extension is sound planning.
Councillors Ralph Nelson, Ron Chase and Terry Waddock voted against the subdivision proposal, saying it was questionable whether the area was in the flood plain.
“It may be a great plan, but it is not in the right place,” Waddock said, adding that if large-scale flooding hit the Bow River, water would strand residents in the Sanctuary development.
Developer Martin Cohos has plans to elevate the land in three places where homes will be built, using the dirt excavated from a large lake that will be fed from the river.
Waddock said he believes the land between the raised land piles will be awash with fast running water in the case of a large flood and questioned the studies by an engineer hired by the developer and the municipality’s own engineers who evaluated the flood risk.
According to Waddock, substandard studies were used that are not up to par with Alberta Environment’s current standards.
Alberta Environment would not comment on the flood risk for the area in question.
All three councillors raised concerns over the safety of future residents and the liability of the MD of Foothills in the case that people’s homes are damaged or someone is hurt during flooding.
Municipal manager Harry Riva Cambrin told council that although future lawsuits cannot be predicted, the province and federal government have been providing emergency funding to municipalities that follow varying flood mapping procedures.
Councillor Pat Stier, who represents the area where the proposed subdivision will be developed, said development in the area can’t be stopped.
Stier pointed out that the river valley in Cranston is currently being developed.
“If this isn’t approved now, someday it will because you can’t stop the growth of Calgary,” Stier said.
So far conditions including erosion control, drainage and storm water planning, high water testing and environmental testing. Council agreed that more conditions may be added as the process continued.

Fatality on Highway 2A

Emergency personnel attend the scene of a fatal accident on Highway 2A just north of Okotoks at about 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Few details were available at press time, but witnesses said a pickup truck apparently turned west into the path of a gravel truck. The female driver of the pickup was killed instantly. photo by Dave Dormer

Education - Division refuses to revisit busing issue

By Darlene Casten
staff reporter

Gladys Ridge parents say they have had the rug pulled out from under their feet by the Foothills School Division, which halted bus service from their area to Okotoks schools.
Kim Corrigan and Jessica Hood told school board trustees last week that when their oldest children started school nine years ago they were told they had a choice between busing them to Blackie or Okotoks.
Both Corrigan and Hood chose to send their children to Okotoks schools. With six children between the two families, buses were dropping their children off at Dr. Morris Gibson School, Percy Pegler School and Okotoks Junior High School up until this year. Now the closest bus into Okotoks is five kilometres from their home, a distance Hood and Corrigan said is not safe to trek every day, particularly in the winter.
“Surely you wouldn’t yank your kids out of schools that they had been going to since they started,” Hood said, adding that she would be willing to pay whatever was needed to cover the transportation cost to Okotoks.
Corrigan argued that it makes no sense to bus from Gladys Ridge to Blackie, which is twice the distance from their home compared to Okotoks.
“The boundary doesn’t make sense,” Corrigan said. “We are 12 minutes (driving) from Okotoks and 25 minutes from Blackie.”
For two weeks Hood and Corrigan have been taking turns shuttling the kids back and forth from their Okotoks schools, but the pair said they will not be able to continue carpooling for long.
“We both work so do they expect us to leave at 3 p.m. to pick up our kids,” Corrigan questioned.
Foothills School Division board chair Jerry Muelaner sympathized with the parents’ plight, but told them the board’s hands are tied.
“I feel dreadful that it is effecting you in this dreadful way, but I have to look at the division as a whole,” Muelaner said. “We did this during a budget cycle when we saw a deficit was happening again. We are deferring things like replacing buses.”
Another Okotoks-area parent said she is also struggling to get her special needs son to Okotoks Junior High School, where he is enrolled in the division’s diversity program.
Following several days with her son spending up to four hours on the bus, Debora Hagel said she was forced to send her son to Heritage Heights School, where she said he is taking the regular Grade 8 curriculum, despite being developmentally delayed by five years.
Busing became an issue this year when the school division announced it would not be providing busing for students who chose to attend schools outside of their assigned boundaries. Although a bus is available to take Hagel’s son to Okotoks Junior High School, she said he has to cross a busy secondary highway on his own to catch the bus and is spending an excessive amount of time on the bus each day.
“The expectation they put on children who already have difficulties is ridiculous,” Hagel said.
Hagel’s daughter is able to walk her brother to the bus to Heritage Heights, she added, reducing his risk of injury on the highway.
Division treasurer Drew Chipman is dealing with individual cases to try to find solutions to the busing issues that have arisen this year.
Chipman said although the Hagel’s case is being looked at to reduce bus times, there is no need to change his pick up location.
“This is not anything different than we are doing anywhere else in the division,” Chipman said. “My understanding is the child is able to make those kinds of decisions. If we thought it was unsafe we wouldn’t be there.”
Chipman said some alternate programs have been put in place for Hagel’s son while he attends Heritage Heights School.