Town poised to hit population cap by 2017

A proposed subdivision that would include 300 homes in the MD of Foothills just west of the town limits has resulted in staunch opposition from the Town of Okotoks.
Last Thursday a public hearing was held at the Foothills MD council chambers in High River for the area structure plan and redesignation of 419 acres to facilitate the development of Sandstone Springs. The proposal, which is on land owned by Joseph Drisdale would include 230 residential lots for single family homes and another 70 patio homes in a bareland condominium project.
Although the proposal did not result in much opposition from neighbouring landowners, Okotoks Mayor Bill McAlpine said the town is vehemently against the proposal due to its potential impact on Okotoks’ water and infrastructure.
“We are concerned about a major subdivision on our outskirts and how it will impact the town’s recreational facilities, traffic on Big Rock Trail and it is upstream of our water supply what are they going to do with their waste water and will their water needs impact flow in the Sheep River,” said McAlpine.
“This is a high density subdivision right on the border of our community and that worries us, plain and simple,” added McAlpine. “And this is just the first one.”
The Town of Okotoks submitted a letter of concern to the MD of Foothills in regards to the Sandstone proposal and asked the MD council to postpone last Thursday’s public hearing until both councils have had an opportunity to discuss the proposal. Okotoks council stated they believe the Sandstone proposal does not conform to the Intermunicipal Development Plan that both councils agreed upon.
“(The applications) do not, in our view, conform to the mutually agreed to principles for residential development with the Town of Okotoks/MD of Foothills Intermunicipal Development Plan which makes for provision within portions of the IDP plan area surrounding Okotoks for relatively low density country residential development,” stated Okotoks subdivision planner Teresa Carte in a letter to the Foothills MD council.
The Foothills MD council did not make a decision on the application voting to table the matter so council could tour the site which is bordered by Highway 7 to the south and Big Rock Trail to the north.
Foothills MD Councillor Terry Waddock admitted he did have some concerns in regards to the water that would be needed to service 300 homes.
“Groundwater is more of a concern because it is a limited resource and this is a significant development that relies entirely on groundwater,” said Waddock.
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The Sandstone development will be serviced with three wells that will have to be licenced with Alberta Environment and the wells will supply a communal potable water system for the 300 residences. The wells will only supply potable water as water for irrigation is proposed to be serviced through rain water and storm run off that will be stored in the wetlands on the property. In addition, each home will be metered for potable water and irrigation.
According to Urban Systems, the design firm for the development, the project will require an average of 270 cubic metres of water per day with a maximum of 400 cubic metres per day. The three wells will supply about 500 cubic metres of water per day.
In addition, the developer stated the wells on the property are not hydrologically connected to the Sheep River. That is key as there is a water licence moratorium on the Sheep River meaning the wells could not be licenced if it was deemed they would impact the Sheep River.
Not all residents in the region agreed that such a high density development was prudent either due to concerns with groundwater. Although the majority who attended the hearing did not oppose the development, they did voice concerns with regards to the impact the development would have on neighbouring wells.
In terms of density, Sandstone Springs proposes about 1.4 units per acre whereas other recent proposals are higher including Sirocco, which is proposing about 1,500 homes on 955 acres (1.5 units per acre) and Heritage Pointe Phase 3 which includes 304 residences on 137 acres (2.12 units per acre). However, the MD also recently turned down the Saddle Spring development near Millarville which included 85 units on 629 acres or 0.13 units per acre.
In addition to the 300 residences, Sandstone Springs includes more than 42 acres of environmental reserve around the 30 acres of wetlands that bisects the property, 41 acres of municipal reserve and an eight kilometre trail system.
Craig Johnson of New North Projects Ltd., which is a partner in the development, said the Sandstone Springs project is a unique proposal that will be an asset to the community.
“This is an extraordinary property with extraordinary mountain views,” said Johnson. “The sandstone ridges and wetlands give this land unique characteristics. We will try hard to preserve the natural landscape.”
As for the town’s concerns the developers agreed water is a key issue and they are sensitive to the use of groundwater which is why they needed to ensure the wells were not going to impact the Sheep River and why each home will be metered to encourage water conservation.
Dave Nixon, president of Dream West Homes, attended the public hearing and stated additional development is needed to meet demand and Okotoks is simply unwilling to meet that demand.
“In my opinion Okotoks has shut itself off by closing its doors to development,” said Nixon. “This is a fabulous opportunity and it shows great foresight by the MD to step up to the plate when Okotoks has closed its doors.”

Coun. Laurie Hodson

If the Town of Okotoks continues to grow as quickly as it has in the past few years, town officials are predicting there will be no more room at the inn by the year 2017.
Last week town council was informed that if Okotoks continues to grow at an average rate of 5.5 per cent a year, the town will hit its population cap of 30,000 in 10 years – eight years sooner than originally predicted when the municipal development plan was created in 1998.
“It certainly may happen earlier if the growth continues to be at an accelerated pace for the next number of years,” said town spokesperson Nancy Weigel. “There definitely is some hesitation as to whether or not this is truly possible. It’s going to be a very busy next 10 years.”
In order to determine what service demands will be placed on the town in the next decade, the town has spent the past year developing the 2030 financial sustainability plan.
According to the plan, commercial land is expected to increase at an average of five per cent per year, enabling the town to reach its commercial build-out by 2020. Approximately 50 per cent of commercial land has already been developed to date.
Developed industrial land is expected to increase at a rate of 15 per cent, pegging the industrial build-out to occur in 2022.
While the town is expected to grow at a rate of 5.5 per cent, so is the population of the MD of Foothills.
Even though the towns population will be capped, many of the town services, such as fire and recreation, will continue to feel the pressures of growth as the population increases outside of the town’s boundaries.
In order to handle the influx of people requiring and using the services, the town estimates 80 additional employees will be required by 2030, with the largest increase being fire services.
“The MD is a very real threat to the municipal sustainable plan,” said Coun. Laurie Hodson, who expressed concerned with inflation in housing prices when the town officially closes its borders. “We need to know and anticipate the reaction of our citizens to a flat line (in population). We just seem to close our eyes to it and it’s a real concern.”
The population cap was introduced in the municipal development plan, which determined the Sheep River would only be able to reasonably service a population of about 30,000.
In preparation for the population cap, the town is nearing the completion of its land annexations with 450 acres left to annex, in which 150 acres will be residential and the remainder will be industrial.
During the summer months, the town will be combining the information from all business centres into a corporate-wide plan and take a more in-depth analysis into particular issues. A public consultation is expected to be held in the fall once all the information is gathered.

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