[0:00] all right good evening everybody uh welcome to the town of cocher Committee

[0:04] of the whole meeting for September 16th 2024 I shall call this meeting to order

[0:10] first order of business is to set an agenda for the evening can I get a

[0:13] motion to adopt the agenda from one of my colleagues up

[0:18] here councelor Reid also move the adoption the agenda as presented all

[0:22] right all in favor of the agenda as presented that is passed unanimously

[0:28] next item is the approval of the prev minutes looking for somebody have done

[0:32] it okay mayor janang uh happy to approve the minutes

[0:36] of our last meeting all right we have a motion to approve the minutes all in

[0:40] favor carried unanimously and that leads us right into delegations our first

[0:44] delegation is Rocky View foundation and Mr Chris bro is gonna be speaking with

[0:58] us good evening uh my name is uh Chris R and as

[1:03] CEO uh I am honored to represent Rocky view Foundation uh an organization

[1:08] dedicated to providing affordable housing Solutions in the Rocky View

[1:11] region today I want to provide you with a bit of an update on some of the

[1:16] progress we've been making on a few projects uh share some of the challenges

[1:21] that we're facing in affordable housing in this region uh recount a couple

[1:25] stories and uh discuss some of our uh plans for the future

[1:33] uh for those of you that might not be that familiar Rocky view Foundation is

[1:36] the housing management body for the Rocky View region that includes Cochran

[1:41] arre uh Crossfield a can Biser and Rocky View County uh this past year was an

[1:49] exciting year for us uh just over a year ago uh we opened our third supportive

[1:55] living seniors Lodge in arry uh abriel Place uh we Pur just a uh uh Hampton in

[2:02] that had closed down during covid uh and was able to transition that into 93 um

[2:08] senior uh living Lodge units uh adding to our portfolio which is now over 233

[2:15] units and uh in addition to that is 84 apartment units uh for

[2:20] seniors also in 2023 uh we took over the delivery of the rental assistance

[2:25] benefit program uh for uh um on of the government of Alberta uh we were able to

[2:33] see the uh client base increase from 60 to 70 people to now over 130 people uh

[2:39] and uh increase of several hundred to 1.1 million in funding uh from The

[2:45] Province uh we continue to want to see that grow as it's a incredible program

[2:49] for our residents uh and then we've also uh had the chance in 2023 and 2024 to

[2:56] pursue new funding opportunities for new projects uh we're we're still hopeful on

[3:01] a few of them we were successful in uh a small Grant from cmhc for a project in

[3:07] brag Creek uh if you are uh on Media or news at all nowadays affordable housing

[3:14] is obviously uh something that is there all the time uh and uh oftentimes uh

[3:21] sometimes it's simplified I just want to raise awareness of some of the

[3:24] challenges that we see on a day-to-day basis uh from people walking in through

[3:28] our doors or or phoning uh the first thing uh is rental market pressures uh

[3:35] this is obviously a big part of the the of what we see and that is uh a large

[3:40] part due to vacancy rates uh in 2020 in our region vacancy rates for rentals was

[3:45] about 6.6% uh in 2023 it's

[3:49] 2.6% uh and it's probably even tighter now most economists agree that you're

[3:55] you're probably in that five to eight% is the best neutral Market keeps

[3:59] landlords engaged in the market and keeps uh enough pressures off the rental

[4:03] rates to ensure that the the rates aren't skyrocketing for tenants uh so

[4:08] with that being at 2.6% or even tighter uh it's added a lot of pressure to the

[4:13] rental market uh another area we see uh quite

[4:18] common is uh income versus housing cost this is talked a lot about in media uh

[4:24] and uh in Alberta alone 22% of households are in core housing need

[4:28] that's talked about a lot what that means is uh about if for low to Middle

[4:33] inome families economists agree about 30% or less should go towards housing

[4:39] anything more then budget constraints begin to uh come in and uh really

[4:44] tighten things up uh and so uh that uh 22% means that uh they're spending more

[4:50] than 30% uh in housing we all see people come in with 40 50 or 60% of their

[4:56] income going towards housing uh we also seeing the challenge

[5:00] of an aging population uh the majority of our rental uh stock uh in our region

[5:07] is not senior specific uh with a ideal dream of Aging in place this uh hinders

[5:14] that as there's not enough um barrier free or Universal Design uh in our

[5:19] Marketplace for rental specifically for our um for our seniors and then of

[5:24] course something that's talked about a lot is uh just uh not enough housing

[5:30] though uh in Cochran and and ay and in this region there's lots of development

[5:35] which is fantastic unfortunately Supply is not keeping up with

[5:39] demand uh as I talk to my team about this uh often we can look at uh look at

[5:46] these things but behind all the percentages are people and behind all

[5:50] the statistics are stories uh and I want to just share a few with you uh uh that

[5:56] we we get to uh make a difference with I'm not going to share all these stories

[6:02] um sufficient to say that we get to see uh resident and tenant feedback and even

[6:07] more so some families that come back and talk to us about just the different

[6:11] outcomes uh that they're seeing in in their loved ones lives uh we're seeing

[6:16] uh you know improv mental health and improve uh uh physical health we're

[6:20] seeing connections to communities we're seeing a a increase in Independence and

[6:26] these are just incredible outcomes and we get to be take a part of every day

[6:30] um but the most important thing that we do provide is a home and that's a big

[6:35] part for those incomes uh want to just quickly draw you draw your attention to

[6:40] this uh this story uh we had an individual who had grown up in uh Ro

[6:47] Alberta in this region uh he had worked hard uh had family in the area until

[6:53] they all moved away the siblings and all that was married uh worked all his life

[6:59] uh his his uh wife unfortunately passed away and he continued to work into it

[7:03] into his 70s uh and got to a point where he couldn't work anymore uh and uh and

[7:09] unfortunately uh uh he he had to uh stop working and he had to rely solely on uh

[7:15] his government pensions uh it was about springtime when

[7:18] he realized the government pensions was going to cover his rent that had just

[7:22] increased and so he um he had to make a hard decision he decided that he was

[7:27] going to move from uh the place that he had to move out of and move into his car

[7:31] for the summer uh and the fall and hopefully save up some money and um make

[7:37] a plan uh once the temperature started dropping uh and that happened and in the

[7:43] fall uh it didn't get any easier uh if he uh he had he faced the two biggest

[7:49] problems that we see in housing in our area is if he could find a place

[7:53] availability you couldn't afford it and uh but uh just through some uh some

[7:59] circumstances he got in contact with one of our our lodges and talked to our team

[8:04] there and he he phoned up and he asked that that first you know dreaded

[8:08] question do you have anything available and and we did have units available and

[8:13] he asked the second most dreaded question what's it cost and our team got

[8:17] to take him through the uh rank gear to income model that we have the affordable

[8:22] uh affordability model uh and he quickly realized that he could he could afford

[8:26] this place uh he came down quickly took a tour of the place fell in love right

[8:30] away within a few short weeks he had moved out of his car and into our into

[8:34] our one of our lodges and uh jumped into the community jumped into the activities

[8:40] uh great realized his new neighbors uh had couldn't get to uh some of their

[8:44] medical appointments and to some of their their shopping appointments and so

[8:48] the car that he had been living in Prior uh to that point he was Now using for

[8:53] his new neighbors to drive them around to pay it for it uh and um you know it's

[8:58] just one one of many stories that that I could share of just the of making a

[9:02] difference and and the life impact and uh as we look as we look forward is we

[9:08] want to tell more of those stories because sometimes those stories don't

[9:10] turn out super well uh and as we as we want to tell some of those stories more

[9:15] stories in the future uh kind of a two uh two uh parts of our plan moving

[9:22] forward is a capital main maintenance plan uh this plan is really just to make

[9:26] sure that our existing uh uh assets really continue uh to have be high

[9:33] quality and be sustainable into the future so we're putting together

[9:36] comprehensive plan to make sure that happens uh and the the next plan is to

[9:43] um develop more uh units to develop more communities uh to build Partnerships

[9:49] pursue funding opportunities uh and look at acquiring more

[9:53] units uh affordable housing is not just about

[9:58] providing shelter it's about creating opportunities for a better life uh the

[10:02] work we do at uh Rocky view Foundation is crucial for building stronger more

[10:06] resilient communities if you hear anything tonight

[10:10] uh hear this we don't do it Al we don't do it alone our story that we shared

[10:16] here and the stories that we could share is not just Rocky view Foundation

[10:19] stories uh it is the stories of uh Cochrans and and all the communities and

[10:24] municipalities we partner with I want to uh say really clearly tonight we thank

[10:28] you for your continued support um and uh just your uh this community support and

[10:35] the communities that we serve support to to see uh stories like this happen uh I

[10:40] believe that um that together we are making a lasting difference in the lives

[10:45] of many and we're building a future a brighter future for Alberta I want to

[10:49] thank you for uh taking the time for hearing this

[10:54] presentation all right thank you very much for your presentation let's move

[10:57] into questions who is First Council flis Chris I just want to say thank you

[11:03] on behalf of council for all the hard work you put in Chris has just been

[11:07] there a short time and as a rep for this committee I see him in action trying to

[11:12] modernize the group and um get funding in place and I know it's not an easy

[11:17] task but suddenly he's an expert took over from the CAO who um retired

[11:22] recently and is doing a fabulous job unfortunately we didn't get the funding

[11:27] for our big Hill Lodge but we're going to keep working on it not yet my

[11:31] question is um around the um rental assistance program carran has really

[11:37] high rents and I'm wondering what how many people are accessing it and what

[11:41] the weight list is like uh so I should have had those exact numbers with me I

[11:46] apologize I can get those numbers to you and you can report on that uh but we

[11:50] have um approximately 170 people on our weight list uh right now um and to be

[11:56] honest it probably grows every day yeah yes I know it's a challenge we uh have a

[12:01] lot of people in need and the funding's gone up but still not quite as high as

[12:05] it needs to be not at all no thank you councelor Wilson thank you thanks

[12:11] for the presentation Chris I just had a couple questions not knowing as much

[12:15] about your organization as councelor flowers does which is an understatement

[12:19] um just uh briefly I guess ballpark how how are you funded in percentage wise is

[12:24] it how much from the community how much from The Province and then also just

[12:28] Cochran specific I never realized Evergreen Manor was

[12:31] part of the portfolio and Cochran I knew about Big Hill Lodge what's the uh

[12:35] current plan for I don't know life cycling those out I know the big hill

[12:38] Lodge a little bit because we talk about it so much but Evergreen Manor is it the

[12:42] same situation there yeah uh so the majority of our funding comes through

[12:46] our rents um I don't have the exact percentage I think about 70% of our

[12:50] funding comes through our rents uh we uh the next largest percentage of funding

[12:55] comes through our our requisition uh and that's through our municipality

[12:59] uh we also get um a lodge assistance program funding uh for for the lodge

[13:04] program uh from the government of Alberta that's um for eligible units

[13:08] it's $20 uh $20.50 per day uh per unit uh which has increased uh just recently

[13:18] uh so that's that's important and um your second question was C specific the

[13:23] two the two um different places in cochr you mentioned in the slides yeah how are

[13:28] they doing life cycle wise and and what what's the plan I suppose yeah so

[13:31] Evergreen is is in in Fairly good shape uh we're contining to Lobby the

[13:36] government for Capital repairs and maintenance that is a government-owned

[13:39] building which we operate uh we are always uh lobbying the

[13:45] government for those funds and those finances we haven't seen a lot of

[13:49] um uh additional funding for that uh I just want to be careful here you know I

[13:55] work work with with different levels of government so I don't want to uh trash

[13:59] anybody but uh yeah we we we need more funding for for those things uh and

[14:04] that's really uh preventative maintenance so we can get ahead we don't

[14:07] want a a roof leaking we want a roof repaired when it and replac when it

[14:10] needs to be repaired or Windows or whatever so uh big hill uh is um uh

[14:18] we're we're looking at a a replacement plan for that uh currently and been

[14:22] working on that for number of years we're hopeful this last round of funding

[14:26] through the government of Alberta uh for HPP which is the affordable housing uh

[14:31] partnership program uh there were 66 million there was 75 projects applied

[14:37] for it uh eight projects got applied or got approved 52 went to just two

[14:43] projects um so uh yeah there was a lot of funding uh available in this La last

[14:48] round uh but we're continuing to uh yeah apply and and try to you know see what

[14:55] different models we can look at as well uh if it if we can't get HP GP

[15:00] money okay thank you you brought me one more question with with something like

[15:03] the big hill Lodge when it's being when we're looking to build the next one is

[15:07] that municipality provides the land and Alberta Government funding sources you

[15:11] just mentioned provide the capital for the actual uh building itself is that

[15:15] the model yeah so the model nowadays is is you know uh it would be all three

[15:21] levels of government so we would look at getting some cmhc uh funding as well

[15:25] there'd be some Municipal funding in there you know through through a land

[15:28] grant or something like that and HPP funding so HPP so government

[15:31] Alberta funds uh up to a third of the project and that's it so um there is a

[15:38] uh a large amount remaining to to get uh funded there I'll say okay thank thank

[15:44] you for for that you just brought me up to speed with what some on the table

[15:48] probably probably already know and thank you for the presentation appreciate it

[15:52] thank you over to councelor fedo uh thank you I just have one question uh we

[15:57] know that obviously our funding was denied are you uh are you trying any

[16:01] other creative ways to kind of approach this situation um or is it just kind of

[16:05] apply and and continue on or are there other you kind of mentioned that there

[16:08] are other things that you're looking at can you kind of maybe elaborate a little

[16:11] bit on that yeah so so we have to be Innovative

[16:15] in in this space nowadays um I would say our our biggest challenge in in any type

[16:19] of project is funding um and the the big announcements of federal or provincial

[16:24] governments of millions or billions of dollars uh that's a lot harder to

[16:28] actually get in our hands so uh being Innovative is is obviously our our

[16:32] approach we have to be Innovative so we're looking at different Partnerships

[16:36] um you know different models that we could uh Revenue models that we can

[16:40] maybe maximize our funding so we can Debt Service more so um yeah there's no

[16:45] no answer today but yeah we're continuing to review and research and we

[16:50] do a lot of reading at you know what's working in different jurisdictions to

[16:53] know if there's a way that we can pull some of that knowledge and wisdom on

[16:57] onto our side

[17:01] mayor janun yeah thank you U appreciate the presentation this afternoon um

[17:07] councelor Wilson and fedo brought up a couple of things that I was wanting to

[17:10] touch on and that's funding model and I'm focusing my my comments tonight

[17:15] mainly on the big hill Lodge um it's no secret around this rumor in our

[17:19] community this is something we needed years ago and I know that you you share

[17:22] that sentiment and that we're not adversaries in this we're we're

[17:26] collaborating to try and get this done together um um I think um councilor

[17:30] Wilson you touched on a good point so the operating costs are shared amongst

[17:35] the partners of the foundation but what I learned recently uh was that capital

[17:41] is something that you don't requisition for and that even if um Cochran or the

[17:47] viic lodge would have been successful in the grant funding from The Province it

[17:50] wouldn't have covered the entire amount of the capital build so that shortfall

[17:55] whatever that would would be is either going going to have to be raised through

[18:00] fundraising which will take a period of time or there could be a capital

[18:05] requisition to the communities that's so um my question is and I think I've

[18:11] answered my own question is how can we as a community help and if it's and it's

[18:17] kind of a heads up to my colleagues that as we enter budget and we see the Rocky

[18:22] VI Foundation line item and that is operating only and I don't have the

[18:25] number off the top of my head but if we are to see Big Hill Lodge in the near

[18:30] future I think we're going this is my opinion I think we're going to have to

[18:34] um get on board with a capital requisition which might actually mean we

[18:39] convince our partners in Rocky view Foundation the other communities to get

[18:44] on board with us or find an Innovative way of doing it alone with the couple so

[18:49] um I guess it's more of an education and I just is is that an accurate um train

[18:54] of thought from could have said it better myself okay no no that's that's

[18:58] entirely true and um you know uh the the provincial funding does does lack when I

[19:05] say it's a third um it it's a third up to a threshold and so because the costs

[19:10] have gone up and the the model for the HPP Grant it's more like 25 to 27% of

[19:17] the project not a third of the project so um yeah so yeah innovative ways and

[19:23] looking at at requisitioning Capital and and um you know partnering with our

[19:27] other communities is yeah exactly what we need to do well and I I think it's a

[19:31] it's a heads up to my colleagues too that if we are we could wait and see if

[19:37] we're going to get the provincial funding then identify the shortfall in

[19:40] the build and that's going to take x amount of time to fund raise for um it's

[19:47] my thought that we try and get that requisition for capital in place before

[19:52] um or at the same time as we're being granted funding so that we're on board

[19:56] and we know where the funding is coming from and we can get the L built as soon

[19:59] as possible rather than having to Now find a funding mechanism so um my

[20:04] promise I guess to you and the community is that I will work with our my mayor

[20:09] colleagues and councils and other the other communities in the Rocky B

[20:12] foundation and with yourself to try and convince the others that this is a a

[20:16] plan that we should all be paying into no matter where your Lodge might be next

[20:21] um we heard BR Creek I'm sure there's more needs in aery as they continue to

[20:25] grow or the other communities so yeah agree appreciate your support thank you

[20:30] thank you okay councelor Reed yeah thanks

[20:34] Chris for your presentation um just picking up on what the mayor was saying

[20:37] so if I recall correctly then so Cochran contributed to the new Lodge in in

[20:45] Aidry uh there was not Capital requisition we had Capital uh some

[20:50] Capital Savings uh for that uh and that was done mainly through debt servicing

[20:54] so um the uh we had a cc of more mortgage approved for it uh which is a

[21:00] 50-year low interest uh affordable housing mortgage uh which was approved

[21:05] by by all the councils yeah my the second question had to do with along the

[21:10] line of innovation so you're talking about Innovative opportunities as it

[21:13] relates to financing what about the the construction itself um there's some

[21:17] members of council and and administration we had an opportunity to

[21:20] see a project that was built in Toronto um and while it doesn't sound very

[21:24] attractive in terms of ccans but it was built out of ccans and um having seen

[21:31] their project I was really really impressed with how the quality of the

[21:34] program and the housing that was made available to to these families Not only

[21:39] was it the U promotion of it when we were there was how quickly they

[21:44] FastTrack it I think they built it like Ian Drew might know better than I but I

[21:47] think it was like six or eight months they built this whole structure um and

[21:52] it really was quite attractive and I thought that you know maybe that rather

[21:55] than just looking at the standard kind of building the you know building

[21:59] another you know bricks and morar kind of building that there might be other

[22:02] innovative ways that are both faster and More costeffective in terms of being

[22:06] Innovative and I'm not sure if that is on your on your radar in terms of

[22:10] looking opportunities in terms of construction as opposed to just not

[22:14] shouldn't say just financing opportunities but you know what I mean

[22:17] like being Innovative outside of the box in terms of the construction itself no

[22:21] absolutely I appreciate the comment and um in in a former life I I worked in

[22:26] another affordable housing division I the the pro project you're probably

[22:30] talking about got a rapid Housing Initiative through cmhc yeah to um do

[22:35] these so I've done modular housing you turn projects around in in eight to 12

[22:39] months where you know you're you're putting stuff up super quick and you're

[22:42] seeing you know changes right away it's yeah no that's that's definitely another

[22:46] area that we're looking at and uh the the rapid housing there's no current um

[22:51] CC announcement coming down the pipe but there're you know every few years they

[22:55] bring that back out so yeah that's I think I think again for your important

[22:59] work and presentation tonight Council M Fen thank you very

[23:04] much uh Mr Ro it's a pleasure to meet you um I had uh volunteered uh on the

[23:10] rocky Foundation a time or two and so had a pleasure working with with Carol

[23:14] and was always impressed by um how well the rocky Foundation is is managed and

[23:20] the important service that you fill so congratulations and thank you for for

[23:23] stepping up to the helm I know you will not be bored in this role absolutely so

[23:28] my colleagues have done have like uh kind of highlighted uh the big hill

[23:33] Lodge and of course we were disappointed not to be able to get uh that Grant to

[23:37] uh advance that solution of replacing the the lodge um but one of the and you

[23:41] did highlight uh in your presentation there and I certainly see the growing

[23:45] need for more of the manor uh type of solution and so um is there a solution

[23:50] in play to perhaps develop more manners uh within your sphere absolutely yes uh

[23:58] um no no no announcements but uh you when

[24:01] it comes to projects like this um uh you know big hill or affordable housing

[24:06] manners um all these different projects um you know my my take on it is get as

[24:11] many irons in the fire uh because you don't know where the funding is going to

[24:15] come so uh we we have projects a lot of them are just in their initial stages

[24:19] but you know talking um you know about land acquisition or or you know land

[24:23] grants and different communities we have land in Brad Creek uh you know looking

[24:27] at how we can do more uh even in different areas here in Cochran so uh

[24:31] yes it's definitely on our radar and uh when I said we uh we want to um do more

[24:36] build more uh that's is obviously um big Hills is a big part of that and a big

[24:42] focus on that but that's not the the only one we want to continue to uh uh

[24:47] you develop as many opportunities as we can and I haven't had a chance to

[24:51] tourers to see it yet but the the renovated hotel in uh Aidry I mean

[24:56] congratulations on that I know you came in through that but um and to my

[25:00] colleagues point like I thought really thought that was an Innovative solution

[25:04] and yeah so I'm glad to hear you're just keeping open ears and to all the

[25:08] different type of opportunities might be out there um so then I guess uh kind of

[25:11] reflecting on the mayor's point that you know if we want to if the municipality

[25:15] wants to be ready uh to support this growing need and our demographics and

[25:19] our stats are all pointing to this a growing need that we have to take

[25:22] seriously sooner rather than later um and the mayor had Ed edified that we

[25:27] might need to start uh suppor supporting a capital

[25:29] requisition um so my question kind of comes through is over the years I've

[25:33] seen the rock view uh Foundation requisition has always been like minimal

[25:38] increases which uh from a taxpayer's point of view it's I think always

[25:42] reflected that we're getting like full value for every dime out of those

[25:45] requisitions but are you looking at a different strategy on both your

[25:49] operational requisition and then uh perhaps also uh advocating for a capital

[25:54] requisition as well are we are we going to be seeing perhaps a change in

[25:57] strategy there uh yes yeah we'll be we'll be looking at a two-prong approach

[26:02] to the requisition for sure one one is uh that's just as you are aware being uh

[26:08] you know connected with Rocky View uh Foundation uh one is board approval one

[26:13] is the C the capital side has to be approved by every municipality so uh

[26:18] there's a bit of a different approach to that but yes so that's what we're

[26:20] looking at as well okay excellent yeah and it it uh it fits a need um we keep

[26:25] you know we always go through the economic Cycles when you're like man why

[26:28] didn't we address affordable housing when we had the chance and then the

[26:31] cycle switches and you know focus on it so much anymore but I think um you know

[26:36] we we really do need to start looking ahead uh especially you know uh growth

[26:40] pressures the housing pressures you know across the country but also in

[26:44] particular in the Cochran context when we're seeing such high growth pressures

[26:47] and that affordability press really seems to be increasing so um I guess all

[26:52] of it that to say you know thank you for stepping up into the role I'm sure we'll

[26:56] keep you busy and I'm looking forward to to uh partnering and and helping assist

[27:00] you with as many wins as we can get appreciate that thank you thank you all

[27:04] right councelor Wilson thank you for indulging me one more time as I sit here

[27:09] thinking about the financing we were talking about it still didn't quite add

[27:11] up for me um I agree with what councelor mcaden just said about helping you any

[27:15] way we can with with the big hill Lodge so so actually um having a new Big Hill

[27:21] Lodge come to fruition if I understand it right the best case scenario for us

[27:25] would be a one-third cmhc so Federal contra bution a one3 provincial or HPP

[27:32] so yeah um I don't want to get into the weeds here but I would I'm a finance guy

[27:37] so I'd love to but um uh yeah so their threshold HPP so government of Alberta

[27:44] 255,000 per unit um so uh that's uh and then 33% of that so our per unit cost

[27:52] because cost of construction have gone up is well over 255,000 now so um the

[27:57] last alst costing we got it was close to 400,000 so you can see the shortfall

[28:02] there uh cmhc is all about debt servicing uh so uh there's no uh one

[28:08] component to it we could um technically uh get approved up to probably uh 90 95%

[28:16] uh financing uh the difficulty with that is that's huge debt servicing so um uh

[28:22] yeah but they they're yeah that's and that's not fund that's not grants that's

[28:27] that's mortgage yeah thank you and then the other part that I

[28:30] um I guess we we didn't talk about was the the actual land itself is that so in

[28:35] the airry example the municipality didn't have to contribute any land

[28:38] because it was already there you're turning an old building into it in

[28:41] Cochran's context it's more likely that we'd be also looking at land from the

[28:45] Cochran perspective if we that's what we're supplying essentially that's one

[28:48] of the things yes yeah yeah that's the plan okay okay thank you for clarifying

[28:52] all that for me appreciate it okay anything else from Council any

[28:58] from Administration would uh would a presenter like to add any final words no

[29:03] thank you all right thank you very much it's been great so next up on the agenda

[29:09] is the Willows land use Amendment and we have joining us uh Miss Anna Caro Deputy

[29:15] Mayor Nagel I just wanted to advise Council that um the live streaming is

[29:20] currently not working it's an issue between YouTube and our um contracted

[29:24] service provider so it's nothing that we can actually um do anything about we are

[29:28] recording um and so therefore the meeting will be uploaded uh later on

[29:32] once the service is available okay so we're not procedurally required to pause

[29:37] the meeting or anything no there's no requirement for the meeting to be live

[29:40] streamed just that it's available to the public to attend okay excellent thank

[29:43] you right carry on okay good evening Deputy Mayor mayor

[29:50] and members of council this evening I am here to present an update to bylaw 18

[29:55] 2024 which is a land use amendment in the community community of the

[30:00] Willows this application again is for a land use Amendment which will amend

[30:04] mapping in the land use bylaw the application may also require amendments

[30:09] to the Willows of River Heights neighborhood plan as one of the land use

[30:12] Concepts the applicant is seeking Council feedback on involves infilling a

[30:16] wetland which policy in the neighborhood plan originally intended to

[30:22] preserve this application was originally submitted in June of 2023 and in October

[30:28] of 2023 the applicant held a public open house to answer questions and gather

[30:32] initial feedback from residents in April of 2024 the

[30:37] application went forward to the committee of the whole for

[30:41] information uh on April 22nd the application received first reading with

[30:45] a public hearing date set for May 13th at the public hearing Council

[30:50] received a presentation from the applicant as well as presentations from

[30:53] members of the public feedback received from the public prompted the to create a

[30:58] second land use concept for consideration by Council which is the

[31:02] purpose of this second Committee of the whole meeting the applicant is

[31:06] requesting Council feedback on both the original land use concept and the New

[31:10] Concept both of which will be detailed in this

[31:13] presentation Council feedback will inform which concept the applicant

[31:17] brings forward to second and third

[31:21] reading this application relates to lands in Willows West which are outlined

[31:25] on the community map here the these are some of the last lands in the Willows to

[31:29] be developed and will facilitate completion of the

[31:34] community development in the Willows is Guided by the River Heights area

[31:37] structure plan approved in 2011 which provides highlevel policy guidance for

[31:42] how the community will be developed and the Willows of River Heights

[31:45] neighborhood plan approved in 2012 the purpose of a neighborhood plan

[31:49] is to provide an overarching plan for the community in more detail than is

[31:53] provided at the area structure plan level and provide policy guidance for

[31:56] subsequent application the subject lands in Willows West did

[32:02] already receive land use in 2014 and some amendments to the land use took

[32:06] place in 2018 and 2022 in response to changing market and

[32:11] environmental conditions the applicant is now requesting further amendments to

[32:14] the land use which is the purpose of this

[32:19] application this is the current land use concept from The Willows of River

[32:22] Heights neighborhood plan and indicates the land use that was originally planned

[32:26] for the community the concept shows two Wetlands to be

[32:30] preserved in the neighborhood including one off of River Heights Drive which is

[32:34] in the subject area for this application with high density multi-unit housing

[32:38] proposed to surround the

[32:42] Wetland as mentioned when the Willows neighborhood plan was written in 2012

[32:46] two Wetlands were identified to be protected and retained as environmental

[32:49] Reserve titled Wetland 80 and Wetland 91 which are shown on this map image from

[32:55] 2012 Wetland 80 was classified as a class 4 Wetland and Wetland 91 a class 3

[33:02] Wetland with Wetland 80 indicated as the largest and most productive wetland in

[33:06] the plan area at the time of writing the neighborhood

[33:09] plan as the communities of the Willows River Crest and River Heights have

[33:13] advanced and Urban Development has occurred surrounding the wetlands water

[33:17] flow to the wetlands has been reduced both wetlands are in the same

[33:21] catchment area and fed through surface water so with reduced water flow they

[33:25] are rece with the reduced water they are receiving they have been drying

[33:30] up uh the water levels do fluctuate depending on

[33:34] precipitation understanding the current environmental conditions the applicant

[33:38] sought Alberta environment's approval to infill Wetland 80 to provide further

[33:42] residential development in the

[33:46] community this is the land use concept that was presented to council at the

[33:50] original Committee of the whole meeting as well as first reading and the public

[33:54] hearing the concept proposes to develop medium density housing in the center of

[33:58] the plan area with park space integrated on both sides which will provide

[34:03] Pathways amenity space and a physical buffer between existing residences in

[34:07] the Willows and the new proposed development this concept also red

[34:12] designates a few small Parcels in the south of the plan area down

[34:17] here uh which will help support the planned alall link

[34:21] realignment this proposal is predicated on the infill of wetland 80 which is

[34:25] within the area currently zon community service

[34:28] I did want to note that the original application you saw included a segment

[34:32] of affordable housing which was to receive funding through the

[34:36] cmhc the funding is now no longer available so while this concept adds the

[34:40] opportunity for more housing options in the community there's no longer an

[34:44] affordable housing

[34:49] component the Alberta Wetland policy dictates that any activity that may

[34:53] impact a wetland requires either a Water Act approval or a code of practice

[34:57] notice this means that in order to proceed with

[35:00] any development on the future environmental Reserve lands that contain

[35:04] Wetland 80 Water Act approval from Alberta environment must be

[35:08] obtained The Province granted approval to infill Wetland 80 for the purpose of

[35:13] residential development on May 18th 2023 the approval was informed by a

[35:18] wetland assessment and impact report that was prepared for the applicant in

[35:25] 2022 the Wetland impact assessment report used in the province's approval

[35:30] identified and classified on-site Wetlands evaluated the wetlands assessed

[35:34] potential impacts to the wetlands as a result of development in Willows West

[35:38] and described mitigation actions if this land use concept is

[35:42] supported by Council the applicant is proposing to provide replacement of

[35:46] wetland 80 through an inl payment based on the Wetland value established in this

[35:54] report with the removal of the community service parcel contain meaning the

[35:57] former Wetland the applicant is proposing to integrate new public park

[36:01] and amenity space uh as Illustrated in the draft concept shown on this

[36:05] slide although the Wetland is currently on privately owned land it has been

[36:09] informally used by residents as a skating rink in the winter months the

[36:14] applicant is proposing a floodable sports

[36:16] amenity uh in the new park space which can be a safe and publicly accessible

[36:20] skating rink for the community that is not currently present and would not

[36:24] otherwise be available there is also a public

[36:27] playground proposed in the west portion of the plan area which provide would

[36:31] provide another additional new amenity the park space located on the

[36:35] east side of the plan area will serve as a buffer between the existing residen uh

[36:40] residences in the Willows and the proposed medium density

[36:44] residential the pathway shown in these Concepts would also provide connectivity

[36:48] through the plan area and

[36:52] neighborhood again the details of land use concept one were all presented to

[36:56] council at the public Hearing in May of this year at the public hearing Council

[37:00] received a presentation from the applicant detailing the history of the

[37:04] wetlands and the reasoning behind the development proposal as well as

[37:08] presentations from residents for which opinion was overwhelmingly in support of

[37:12] preserving Wetland 80 Council heard from 24 members of the

[37:17] public who spoke to the environmental recreational and social value Wetland 80

[37:21] brings to the community main themes from the public

[37:25] presentations included the loss of habitat and species that infilling the

[37:29] Wetland would result in that the Wetland was a primary selling future when

[37:33] purchasing homes in the area and removing it would change the area

[37:36] residents bought into that the proposal to remove the Wetland goes against

[37:41] existing Town policy and the perception that removing the Wetland will decrease

[37:45] surrounding property values uh and result in a decreased

[37:50] sense of privacy sense of privacy there were also concerns over drainage and how

[37:54] removing the Wetland would impact surrounding development

[38:00] in response to this feedback the applicant provided a second land use

[38:03] concept for consideration by Council this

[38:06] evening uh the applicant is seeking feedback on both this and the original

[38:10] land use concept to inform uh which concept to bring forward for a second

[38:15] and third reading this proposal retains Wetland 80

[38:19] which is intended to become environmental Reserve when the lands are

[38:23] subdivided the municipal government act dictates that all environmental Reserve

[38:27] Land must be left in its natural state or be used as a public park if this

[38:32] concept were to be approved by Council the Wetland would remain in its natural

[38:36] state and the ER lands would be transferred to town ownership when

[38:39] subdivision occurs while residents currently access

[38:42] the private lands that contain the Wetland for skating in the winter for

[38:46] safety purposes the town would not permit skating when the lands become

[38:49] public and no surrounding infrastructure Forest skating rate could be developed

[38:53] due to the ER designation this land use concept

[38:57] proposes medium density housing around the Wetland to the west and south with

[39:01] with park space in the northeast corner of the subject

[39:04] lands this option provides more flexibility in housing form than the

[39:08] current rmx land use and retains the Wetland as a natural feature but does

[39:13] not include the park space behind existing residences that concept one

[39:17] provides to compensate for the removal of the

[39:20] Wetland concept 2 also rezones the utility Corridor to the West at to

[39:26] community service and three small Parcels again these ones the same as

[39:30] concept one uh to help ACC accommodate the planned alink

[39:40] realignment this slide presents a summary of the impacts of both landies

[39:44] concept one and two through concept one Wetland 80 and

[39:49] the surrounding habitat will be permanently revie removed with

[39:52] compensation being provided through inlo payment through concept two the Wetland

[39:57] will continue to exist but the surrounding conditions will likely

[40:00] result in it no longer serving a wetland function over time while Wetland 80 has

[40:05] been informally used as a skating rink it has been on private property and if

[40:09] it were to be if it were to remain and be designated as ER skating would not be

[40:14] permitted the amenity Concepts proposed within the neighborhood plan provide as

[40:19] floodable Sports amenity which can act as a safe and publicly accessible

[40:22] skating rink in the winter months the plan also proposes an additional

[40:26] playground that currently does not exist the new land uses within concept

[40:32] one add park space behind all of the existing residences in the Willows

[40:35] whereas in concept two there's residential zoning adjacent to most of

[40:39] the existing properties concept one allows more

[40:42] opportunity for diverse housing options and concept 2 offers the opportunity for

[40:47] some medium density housing but fewer units and in a more constricted space

[40:52] which limits design opportunities the location of park space

[40:56] in concept one allows for added Pathways and connectivity through the plan area

[41:00] and in concept two there would be fewer Pathways with the majority of Green

[41:03] Space being located in the center of the plan

[41:06] area the resulting impacts of the current land use versus the impacts of

[41:10] land use in concept 2 are not materially different so they're not shown for

[41:14] comparison on this slide but I will be touching on it

[41:20] shortly Administration also completed an analysis on how each of these land use

[41:25] Concepts aligns with existing town policy the current Municipal development

[41:30] plan sustainability plan Council strategic plan and River Heights area

[41:34] structure plan were all evaluated for policy relevant to this

[41:39] application all of the documents have policy which relate to providing a

[41:43] diverse housing mix physical connectivity and pedestrian pathway

[41:47] systems providing a variety of recreational opportunities and the

[41:51] preservation of ecologically significant areas including

[41:56] wetlands this table to the right outlines how each of the land use

[41:59] Concepts responds to policy guidance compared to the current land

[42:03] use concept one increases housing diversity compared to the current uh

[42:09] zoning by rezoning the area to medium density housing and expanding the

[42:12] current developable land base concept two would increase housing

[42:17] diversity by a smaller degree as there is a much more limited space and not as

[42:21] much opportunity to provide different housing

[42:23] forms concept one enhances connectivity in the neighborhood with the new design

[42:27] and orientation of park space while concept 2 would provide the same amount

[42:31] of connectivity as the land use that's currently

[42:35] approved concept one enhances Community amenities by providing a new allseason

[42:40] amenity space and a new playground because concept 2 wouldn't

[42:44] allow for public skating once the Wetland transitions to environmental

[42:48] reserve the neighborhood would be losing an amenity space they were previously

[42:51] taking advantage of with the removal of wetland 80

[42:57] concept one is decreasing alignment with policy advocating for Environmental

[43:00] Protection acknowledging that the province is the body responsible for

[43:04] making development decisions on Wetlands concept 2 maintains current

[43:09] policy alignment for environmental preservation as Wetland 80 will remain

[43:13] as Reserve Land following subdivision and left in its natural

[43:20] state as so this slide will provide one last summary of the three land use

[43:24] scenarios that are to be considered by Council

[43:27] this is the approved land use that currently applies to the plan area under

[43:32] the current zoning Wetland 80 would be retained and transition to ER and the

[43:36] surrounding area would be developed as residential mix housing when the wet uh

[43:41] Wetland transitions to town ownership there will be no authorized skating in

[43:45] the winter months land use concept one proposes to

[43:50] infill Wetland 80 and comprehensively develop the area as medium density

[43:54] housing there will be an additional Park and for Seas an amenity space that will

[43:58] not otherwise exist additional pathway connections and the rezoning of the

[44:03] small Parcels to the South to accommodate the ult link

[44:08] realignment land use concept 2 would retain Wetland 80 and the surrounding

[44:13] area would be developed under the residential medium density Zone the

[44:17] applicant has advised that there will be little to no difference in the number of

[44:20] units provided under rmx versus rmd but the rmd zoning provides more flexibility

[44:25] in the design and orientation of units as with the current land use

[44:30] skating would not be permitted in the winter months and like land use concept

[44:35] one concept two red designates those few small Parcels in the south of the plan

[44:39] area for the alter link

[44:43] realignment uh next steps for this application include council's

[44:47] consideration of second and third reading following council's feedback

[44:51] from this meeting the applicant will proceed with their chosen option which

[44:54] will be reviewed by Administration and brought back to council for a decision

[44:58] once land use has been uh established subdivision will occur followed by

[45:02] development and building permits and then construction completion estimated

[45:06] for 2026 to

[45:10] 2027 that concludes my presentation I will now be joined by Mark kinsky our

[45:14] director of community growth to answer any

[45:18] questions uh thank you for the presentation before we head into

[45:21] questions can I just clarify uh what administration is looking for from

[45:24] Council since we don't normally make decisions

[45:27] uh in these meetings yeah thank you for the question

[45:31] uh Deputy Mayor eagel what we're really looking for is a commentary for members

[45:35] of council as to a preferred uh concept that will inform uh the applicant's

[45:40] decision on which concept to proceed with in the second and third reading if

[45:44] uh Council would like to provide their uh opinions and discussion okay great uh

[45:51] who would like to share their opinion mayor

[45:54] janang happy to kick off the commentary and I appreciate your question Deputy

[45:59] Mayor about how to proceed uh this is kind of unknown territory for us and how

[46:03] we provide feedback and um my first comment is I really like this approach I

[46:08] appreciate that we've heard something at a public hearing it might be uh well we

[46:13] we heard from as you say 24 U people in our community that are

[46:16] really upset with the with a proposal and then uh to working with the

[46:21] applicant and coming back with options and using the committee the whole this

[46:25] way I think is is really really good approach so I appreciate that um I was

[46:31] going to get into a bit of commentary around like one of the options Council

[46:34] has is to do nothing which is to leave as is but you touched on that at the

[46:38] very end so I appreciate that um one question I have is in regards to um the

[46:46] Ala link realignment if concept two were to proceed does that allow for that

[46:52] realignment because I believe that impacts other communities to the South

[46:58] through the chair that is correct so yes the Ala link is taken care of through

[47:03] the chair yes concept to would address uh the land use changes required that

[47:07] would help increase alignment with the alic uh relocation all right thank you

[47:12] um I guess um what I like about the approach that's being taken with Concept

[47:17] 2 is the preservation of the Wetland and what I think wasn't clear in the public

[47:24] hearing and I think there might be a misconcept ception with some of the land

[47:27] owners in the area is if Council were to choose the option to do nothing

[47:32] something is still happening there um so I I just wanted to put that out in the

[47:37] public commentary that uh um regardless of what decision we make and I guess if

[47:42] it's to do nothing there are going to be some or there is going to be some

[47:45] development in that area um the and this this is more of a comment than a

[47:52] question obviously but as with most decisions that we are faced with there's

[47:56] no right and there's no no wrong here there's pros and cons to each and I

[48:00] guess while I would lean to the environmental aspect of this of concept

[48:05] to in preserving the Wetland it's not the ideal setting to preserve the

[48:10] Wetland into the future because of some of the development that's already

[48:13] occurred that ship is sailed and the waters that can be directed into a

[48:19] natural Wetland through Alberta environment are restricted to natural

[48:23] sources not runoff from communities am I correct on that uh through the chair

[48:28] that is correct original so we could be in a in a position down the road where

[48:33] we choose concept to preserve the wet land everybody's happy today but the wet

[48:38] land dries up and we're left with a different problem into the future uh

[48:42] through the chair that is correct okay all right I at this point I I appreciate

[48:49] the approach and I'm leaning towards the I don't know if that's what you're

[48:53] looking for as a pro and a thumb up or down on which concept I'm leading

[48:57] towards concept to uh through the chair uh yes that is correct Mong we're really

[49:01] looking for commentary that can help shape the decision by the applicant on

[49:05] uh which direction they would like to proceed for second and third reading so

[49:08] thank you for your uh your Insight councelor Wilson thank you uh

[49:13] the mayor asked my first question which was there's no alternative way to get

[49:17] water into the Wetland simply because of provincial legislation that's what I

[49:21] just heard that it's essentially going to dry up it sounds like I know

[49:24] obviously we can't predict the future but it uh the way it's been trending

[49:27] since 2012 is a slow evaporation of the wet Wetland does that seem reasonable to

[49:32] think that it is going to dry up uh through the chair based on some of the

[49:36] reports that we reviewed we believe there is an indication uh that the

[49:39] Wetland is uh moving in the direction and failing uh especially in relation to

[49:44] other Wetlands we've seen uh in the vicin in the vicinity thank you and you

[49:49] just confirmed with the mayor that there is no way to direct water to the Wetland

[49:52] that's outside of our control that's an Alberta regulation uh through the chair

[49:57] uh there are some very specific regulations about how to direct water

[50:00] into a wetland but as the uh mej ask the question directing storm

[50:07] water directly into the Wetland without significant additional uh investment and

[50:11] Remediation efforts uh is not appropriate I believe the applicant had

[50:15] PRI tried previously and been directed to stop by Alberta environment as

[50:21] well those are very disappointing answers not not that we control much of

[50:25] any of that it sounds like but it's disappointing nonetheless to me and so

[50:29] as I said here then I I appreciate the mayor just pointing out that there's

[50:32] three options before us no option includes nothing happening there and

[50:37] absolute status quo because there's already Zoning for houses to go in there

[50:40] and so my next question is between what's the existing Lan use and concept

[50:45] 2 I had a little trouble it looked like it was virtually the same except for the

[50:49] housing type might be slightly different and the reason I'm asking this is I try

[50:54] to when I'm making suggestions or or when I'm making decisions up here I've

[50:58] I've got two hats on I've got the entire Community hat on and I've got the what

[51:02] if I were a resident living right there hat on that I'm thinking about and with

[51:06] the if I was living right there is is it fair to say that the housing type I

[51:10] think I heard is likely to be more mixed and possibly more attractive to the

[51:14] neighbors that are currently living there with Concept 2 rather than current

[51:17] land use is that too simple to say through the chair councel Wilson uh the

[51:22] medium density land use to provide a gr a greater range of alternativ to inform

[51:27] uh the development of the site so that is uh that is correct however densities

[51:32] due to the uh fiscal restrictions of the site are unlikely to vary significantly

[51:37] uh between the two different land uses right I did hear that okay and so in in

[51:42] a nutshell for me if I've understood it all correctly if I'm a resident living

[51:46] there the two choices I have before me are um would I like a park or would I

[51:52] like a wetland that's likely to dry up but we're not sure the the two things

[51:56] that sit before us right now and that's not real attractive I I suppose if I

[52:00] live there I would say um I would I would probably appreciate the the park

[52:05] option but I heard loud and clear from the public hearing that there is a large

[52:09] number of people that would like it to remain in its environmental State and so

[52:14] um listening as I do I I would say that concept 2 appeals more to me right now

[52:20] which is what we're sitting here trying to determine so I guess that's my two

[52:24] cents if if I me through the chair just because because I just listening to this

[52:27] questioning I think um my recollection of the public hearing is as well that

[52:32] there's really um some sensitivity from existing residents and I think

[52:36] reasonably as to what their um interface would be with this property um after a

[52:42] potential change and um I haven't heard in the dialogue with Council which is

[52:46] the only reason I I raise this and I look for um Mark to confirm this is that

[52:50] um in land use concept two a significant amount of those properties would have

[52:55] direct interface with the residential development where is in land use concept

[53:01] one um I think that there is a green space or a public space that would serve

[53:07] as an interface there so I just point that out as a distinction that I think

[53:10] would be meaningful if again if I think councelor Wilson like you said if I put

[53:13] my resident hat on there there's a pretty big difference between backing

[53:17] onto a park versus backing directly onto another residential development as well

[53:21] so that's just a um something that I wanted to um share I don't know Mark if

[53:26] you have any anything to add to that through the chair uh CEO mik DK that is

[53:31] correct there could be development that would uh back on to existing residents

[53:36] uh under either the existing or concept 2 of course all of the uh setback

[53:41] requirements with in the existing land use bylaw would still uh would still

[53:45] comply but they would no longer back on to an undeveloped parel that's an

[53:49] excellent point I'm glad the CEO brought that up again that was what I was

[53:52] thinking if I was a if I was a resident living there and I had all this

[53:55] information in front of me the concept one would be my preference knowing

[54:00] everything that we know I'm not sure if everybody that was at the public hearing

[54:04] understood the consequences I'm I'm not sure um what I do know is that the

[54:09] overwhelming maybe all the entire everybody in the gallery um seem to

[54:14] propose the or support the um leaving it in its natural state and so um hopefully

[54:21] there's there's some more thought about this from the local residents I guess

[54:25] the only other the other thought going through my head right now is that in a

[54:28] zoomed out more Cochran approach what what is better for Cochran it does seem

[54:33] that concept one with the increased connectivity and perhaps extra amenities

[54:37] is better for the community as a whole but um a lot to weigh and I I suppose I

[54:43] would still land toward lean towards um concept two provided tonight although

[54:49] like I said I I'm pretty gray on this I'll I'll let the others talk it out

[54:53] here it's a l it's a lose lose it does sound like to me over to councelor foro

[55:00] uh thank you through Mr Jericho to Mr kazinski I just wanted to talk about the

[55:04] interface uh so you said the interface from the existing plan the current land

[55:09] use to concept 2 is is the same is that what I kind of

[55:14] heard uh through the chair councelor Fido uh yes the interface between the

[55:19] existing residents and a uh residential medium density District as well as a

[55:24] residential uh MX District would be relatively similar the closest that we

[55:28] probably have within our land use yeah like the current land use that's we've

[55:32] has already been approved it's going to be the same as what's being in concept

[55:35] to there is a slight difference the uh through the chair the land use that is

[55:39] being requested is uh residential medium density uh for a portion of it and it is

[55:44] currently residential mixies okay um sorry mixed with with

[55:49] this New Concept was there any public engagement done with it has this gone

[55:53] back out to uh the residents or is it just you know something that was

[55:57] designed from the developer side or just trying to gain kind of where the

[56:02] residents fit into in the picking of these two

[56:10] plans uh through the chair 2 councelor fedo the new land use concept didn't go

[56:15] out for um public engagement as it was responding directly to the feedback that

[56:21] the applicant received from the public at the public

[56:24] hearing um the land use is still the same

[56:28] surrounding the Wetland so the change is just retaining the Wetland versus

[56:33] infilling the Wetland so no there wasn't direct public

[56:36] engagement on this concept specifically um emails did go out to the public

[56:41] informing them of this meeting so that they can be advised and up to date on

[56:45] the current changes okay so I'll give you my opinion I would vote to uh leave

[56:49] it the same at the current landies for right now until we can uh hear from the

[56:52] residents so that they also have an opportunity to give their opinion on

[56:56] what plan possibly might uh be better or impact them less I'm not willing to uh

[57:01] give an opinion on concept one or concept two until iosi engage with the

[57:07] residents counselor flowers it is a dilemma there's no right

[57:13] answer I guess there's not going to be any skating on any of the options

[57:17] right uh through the chair counc of flowers uh in concept one the applicant

[57:23] is proposing uh to construct a new uh for season amenity that would include

[57:28] basketball carts uh during the summer months and then a floodable skating rink

[57:32] uh in the winter which would provide skating amenity but then we would lose

[57:36] the Wetland with the goal being the Wetland um being preserved I know that's

[57:41] what the people want and the petition that was signed that that's really what

[57:45] people want so I I don't think they're going to be happy with um the end result

[57:50] but I do think the option two is um the best choice considering everything that

[57:55] we've had in front of us and um I'm hoping that somehow the Wetland Will

[58:01] Survive and with new technology and new ways of dealing with the environment

[58:05] somehow we can save it and make sure that it's there

[58:11] forever councilor Reed yeah it is quite a dilemma um you know wetlands are an

[58:17] important U diminishing return or resource in terms of our any community

[58:21] and critically important um I guess from my perspective I I

[58:26] I think it you know it's the as the mayor kind of suggested it's a choosing

[58:31] between two evils so to speak um for me I I would prefer a concept one I think

[58:36] if if I were a resident in that area having this additional information and

[58:41] being what it is um with the concern that that wet land will dry up

[58:47] inevitably it would be my take on it that what uh concept one would

[58:50] definitely be appropriate in terms of the um Pathways the recreational use the

[58:58] uh proximity of other homes to the current homes I I just think you know as

[59:02] Council Wilson said if you look back up what's best for for all of Cochran and I

[59:07] think I you know I feel that way for the residents of this community having this

[59:11] additional information that would be the that's where I would go concept

[59:16] one Council mcf um yes thank you very much uh first question just for

[59:22] clarification uh in all three of the options uh proceed or um concept one or

[59:28] two uh all of them have spoken to the alter link alignment correct there is a

[59:32] solution for alter Link in all three uh through the chair uh counselor mcfaden

[59:37] uh in the in the event that neither concept one nor concept two were

[59:41] supported then uh there's still ability for the alter link transmission line to

[59:45] go through however would not um support the land use change um that would help

[59:49] enable that there is an option uh of course to work with the applicant if

[59:54] they desired to still proceed with second or third reading of the land use

[59:58] change solely for the uh two Parcels impacted by the uh alter link

[1:00:04] realignment okay so okay so staying in the current land

[1:00:10] use the uh we're going to have to work with the applicant to find a a solution

[1:00:13] for the alter link realignment still is that correct through the chair that is

[1:00:17] correct okay all right I just want to understand that and so um just thinking

[1:00:22] back it was on Council when uh the Willows application first came

[1:00:26] um to council chambers and um one of the the highlights and I remember to this

[1:00:32] day was how important the preservation of this Wetland uh really was to the

[1:00:36] community um even way back when so uh I wasn't uh surprised at all that when the

[1:00:43] proposal to uh remove the wetlands uh came forward um that we had such uh

[1:00:50] substantial public interest in preserving the wetlands it's a really

[1:00:53] important feature to our residents um and supportingly I think what 525 folks

[1:00:59] uh signed the petition and we had such extensive uh public hearing on this item

[1:01:04] that uh I think you know is loud and clear that we value keeping the wetlands

[1:01:09] here um I certainly uh hear and have heard since the very beginning that uh

[1:01:14] their ability to preserve themselves in their current state is at risk but um

[1:01:18] what I really heard from the residen is they really want to keep um the Green

[1:01:23] Space of that and so I think even if uh the Wetland changes in its nature due

[1:01:28] to the buildout around it um as a green space it is still highly valuable to the

[1:01:33] residents um and I think a lot of um the residents the folks that participated in

[1:01:38] the process um you know did hear the the potential of different types of uh

[1:01:44] amenities to that whether it was keeping it in the natural Green Space or the

[1:01:47] different amenities and connectivities uh that the developer has proposed um

[1:01:52] but um you know for my lens I think the community is spoken very loudly that

[1:01:57] they wanted to keep that and so that's a priority for me um my challenge I think

[1:02:02] back to yourselves and the developer is to come up with as much of a a

[1:02:07] mitigating strategy and a buffer between the existing uh homes and the new ones

[1:02:12] that are going to be built out you'd identify that there is going to be you

[1:02:16] know the required setbacks there so I would really ask that we get um you know

[1:02:21] creative in considering how we can mitigate negative impacts there um

[1:02:26] but I also um wanted to flag that I highly agree with councelor fedo that I

[1:02:31] actually I view this as a substantial change the uh application and um I think

[1:02:38] we really do need to ensure that we build in an opportunity for public

[1:02:42] feedback on this change and so if that requires a second public hearing I would

[1:02:46] certainly support this I I feel this is a substantial enough change that it does

[1:02:50] warrant allowing the public to communicate um their feelings on this so

[1:02:55] that's my at this time and uh echoing councelor fco's thoughts um I'm looking

[1:03:01] forward to being able to hear back from our residents what they think of the

[1:03:04] proposed changes thank you so I believe everybody on Council has had an

[1:03:08] opportunity to speak I'm going to weigh in before doing round two of comments um

[1:03:13] so can you please clarify what the difference is between uh rmd and rmx for

[1:03:17] myself and anybody else who's watching the

[1:03:20] presentation uh through the chair I'd be happy to uh deputy mayor uh Council

[1:03:25] Nagel uh so some of the primary differences

[1:03:28] between rmx zoning and rmd Zoning is there is a ability to go to an extra 2

[1:03:33] meters higher in Building height and the rmx zoning allows up to a maximum of 65

[1:03:39] units per hectare whereas rmd zoning has a range of about 35 uh units per Hector

[1:03:46] to 60 or to 95 units per Hector so rmx actually falls right directly in the

[1:03:51] middle uh as I mentioned previously due to some of the physical constraints of

[1:03:54] the lot sizes um in the land and the nature of how it

[1:03:58] uh remains for the development of the rmd it is unlikely to result in

[1:04:03] significant increase in the number of units or density uh within the rmd

[1:04:07] zoning uh also based on conversations that we've had with the applicant that's

[1:04:11] really to provide additional uh flexibility in how they design uh how

[1:04:16] they design their development on the site which could enable uh more units um

[1:04:21] being adjacent to each other uh with a shared party wall than would be

[1:04:24] permitted in an RM RX landies and the higher height was that in rmx or rmd the

[1:04:31] higher height is in rmd and also comes with the ability for if the applicant

[1:04:35] went to that height uh for the Development Authority to request uh

[1:04:39] additional setbacks okay um having seen and being

[1:04:44] part of a number of public hearings over the past I guess year and a half in this

[1:04:48] General vicinity I think people want us to pack less houses in not more and so

[1:04:52] I'm definitely on the housing style in favor of option three nothing uh with

[1:04:57] regards to the actual Wetland I agree with something I think Council M faten

[1:05:01] was touching on that just a natural space even if it is drying up I think

[1:05:04] people just are happy with the natural space but uh I would also just suggest

[1:05:09] that this um this kind of indicates a failure in our general policy which I

[1:05:13] think this group has never really worked on is uh our Wetland policy if we if we

[1:05:18] zoned or past councils zoned to protect this Wetland and then what was built

[1:05:22] around it has destroyed the Wetland that means our Wetland Conservation has has

[1:05:25] failed and now the developer is telling us well what you approved actually

[1:05:29] didn't protect the white land so I think in future applications we need to be um

[1:05:33] looking for a different policy that actually ensured that Wetlands we trying

[1:05:36] to protect are being protected because obviously we did not protect this one um

[1:05:41] okay so I'm an option three kind of guy uh mayor J yeah thank you I just wanted

[1:05:47] to clarify something we're hearing about public engagement and uh at all I'm not

[1:05:53] trying to suggest that we we don't listen to the public I think we're we're

[1:05:56] all here we've had the public hearing is what's generating uh this discussion um

[1:06:02] my question is and I think I know the answer but if the applicant were to do

[1:06:07] nothing or change nothing the current land use there is no obligation

[1:06:11] whatsoever to do any public hearing or any public engagement because that was

[1:06:16] that ship sailed years ago when that application was first brought before the

[1:06:21] council at that time uh through the chair that is correct there isn't public

[1:06:24] engagement required with the current approval in place so choosing to do

[1:06:29] nothing is there is absolutely no public engagement in that so really what we're

[1:06:35] faced with tonight is or at second reading is concept one is what the

[1:06:40] public hearing was about and it was about filling in the land or into the uh

[1:06:46] Wetland concept two is a re design I guess of the of the current

[1:06:55] approved land use is that a a fair assessment of other than the changing

[1:07:02] from rmx to rmd and the ELA link uh realignment there's relatively nothing

[1:07:07] changing from status quo uh through the chair that's correct uh Marin the only

[1:07:12] thing I would add is that there would have been public engagement when the

[1:07:16] land use was put in place originally in either 2014 or 2018 when the current

[1:07:20] approved land use uh was approved right so I my the Crux of my

[1:07:26] question is going to be that if Council were to choose option or concept two uh

[1:07:32] and want more public engagement um is that an option does what what is how

[1:07:39] does that work uh through the chair uh a second public hearing is not

[1:07:43] legislatively required as the changes made to the application or indirect

[1:07:46] response to the feedback heard from the public hearing however Council does have

[1:07:50] the ability to request another public hearing should they desire okay thank

[1:07:55] you okay and I believe Drew Mr Hinman

[1:07:57] wanteded to hop in yeah um thank you Deputy Mayor Nel I just wanted to share

[1:08:02] uh with Council and pick up on some of the comments that the mayor was saying I

[1:08:06] think uh land use concept number two is in direct response to the feedback that

[1:08:11] came at the uh public hearing I think uh the community spoke indicated the

[1:08:17] importance of this Wetland and that space in

[1:08:20] particular um and wish to retain that so in terms of the developer responding and

[1:08:26] why one of the additional reasons we're bringing this before Council and

[1:08:29] providing this in this form is Council needs to understand if the um applicant

[1:08:36] had decided to not proceed with land use concept 2 they could have proceeded to

[1:08:42] they have a stripping and Grading application in right now they could have

[1:08:46] proceeded with that stripping and Grading application and began working on

[1:08:51] that property we have residents who are very uh passionate about their

[1:08:56] communities came to an open house or to a public hearing heard about the

[1:09:00] potential of losing a wetland spoke voice their concerns administration's

[1:09:06] very feels it's very important to bring this information forward so if that did

[1:09:11] occur that um uh equipment was going out on site the residents in that Community

[1:09:17] had a clear understanding of what was going to happen on that property and

[1:09:20] didn't feel like oh okay now we're losing the Wetland I thought we had

[1:09:24] spoken so hopefully provides a little bit of context of why this is here and

[1:09:28] the manner in which it is here again um there are uh some important decisions uh

[1:09:35] that this will come back at a uh future uh council meeting for second and third

[1:09:40] reading but we felt it was important to have this discussion and get council's

[1:09:44] feedback okay thank you uh councelor Wilson thank you those those comments

[1:09:49] around the table really help formulate what what I'm thinking and that's that

[1:09:53] if there is a way to get to another public hearing I think that would be

[1:09:56] very useful to me um from My Lens concept one is the preferred outcome

[1:10:02] here if I if I were a neighbor living there I don't live far from there anyway

[1:10:05] as a Cochran resident concept one seems to be the preferred one to me but I

[1:10:10] heard loud and clear from the gallery that um they want they didn't want that

[1:10:15] um what I'm worried about is that that Gallery didn't understand the

[1:10:18] consequences before them um and with everything laid out on the table here I

[1:10:22] would love to hear from people again which of these options they would like

[1:10:26] because to me one seems Superior and that's the one we're not choosing so um

[1:10:31] if there's a way to get to a public hearing I just heard that potentially

[1:10:34] there would be if we uh went with land use concept too I think that's the way I

[1:10:39] would like to go um would like to hear what others have to say about that

[1:10:46] opinion um councelor fedo uh through Mr D Mr kazinski um I just uh wanted to

[1:10:52] point out a couple things yes I realized that um obviously the developer could

[1:10:56] just go through and proceed um but keep in mind that a lot of people that have

[1:11:01] purchased homes in the Willows would have already know what to expect um when

[1:11:06] they purchase back in 2018 2014 a lot of them already knew the plan right then

[1:11:11] the plan has shifted to concept one um so then all of a sudden a bunch of

[1:11:16] people that's where people were upset because what they originally bought into

[1:11:20] had changed now I believe that we're coming forward with another concept

[1:11:24] which I think actually if it goes maybe out to the public and to the community

[1:11:28] you actually might actually receive quite a bit of support and and a little

[1:11:32] cheering going on that you're actually looking at and protecting uh that

[1:11:36] Wetland the thing that I have a problem with is that just not having any public

[1:11:41] hearing and we sit around the table and we're making that decision tonight and

[1:11:44] not allowing those people to come back um that's just that's that's just not

[1:11:49] good in my opinion um I won't approve anything without a public hearing so

[1:11:53] let's please have a public hearing and allow people with the opportunity to

[1:11:56] come back and speak share their opinion and you just might be surprised that

[1:11:59] it's not going to be negative it actually might be positive but not

[1:12:01] allowing them to talk at all I don't think is the right way uh to approach

[1:12:05] this and if anything you're just going to get a bunch of push back and blowback

[1:12:09] from the community that once again council is not really hearing the people

[1:12:12] that live there and uh that's not how I want to

[1:12:16] proceed okay councel Reed yeah I just want to pigy back on what council Wilson

[1:12:21] was saying so if I understood you correctly Council has the authority and

[1:12:24] it won't contravene any processes or violate any any of our bylaws in terms

[1:12:29] of being able to have a second public hearing on on these proposed changes is

[1:12:32] that correct uh through the chair based on the conversations we've had

[1:12:36] internally it's my understanding that no we're not violating any pro processes if

[1:12:40] we request a second Public Act yeah I would support uh that request I know we

[1:12:46] can't vote tonight but if it were to if Administration is looking for feedback I

[1:12:50] think that there is some kind of consensus that that that might be the

[1:12:52] way to go forward in terms of being able to hear further from our residents given

[1:12:57] what they now know or what we now know and they will then have available to

[1:13:00] them as in a way of additional information uh through the chair Council

[1:13:04] read I could add I think the uh for council's benefit one thing to keep in

[1:13:07] mind with this is that the site during the in the area structure plan was also

[1:13:12] zoned for uh residential mixed use or mixed dwelling development which in the

[1:13:18] multi-use development in the previous uh land use bylaw was the highest density

[1:13:22] Zoning for the site so there would have been that information available at the

[1:13:26] time of purchase by the residents that the site was always uh intended for

[1:13:31] highdensity development which these land uses are

[1:13:36] below I would feel it's important to identify okay thanks for proving that

[1:13:41] information any further comments from Council anything else from

[1:13:45] Administration anything else from our presenters okay great thank you very

[1:13:50] much do you have everything you need from us I guess is my last question to

[1:13:53] you uh through the chair I I believe we have the information that we need to

[1:13:57] proceed and we'll have to take this away have some discussions with the applicant

[1:14:00] on how they'd like to proceed with the application okay thank you thank you

[1:14:04] okay next up on the agenda we've been here for an hour and 15 minutes does

[1:14:06] anybody need a quick watch we're going to take uh six minutes come back

[1:14:11] 7:20 I just like round numbers

[1:14:34] well my computer's clock is faster than that clock in here so we may as well not

[1:14:39] sit around in awkward silence um let's get back to it our next agenda item is

[1:14:44] community growth uh Mark kin krinski is going to be giving us a presentation and

[1:14:49] introducing a few other people as

[1:14:53] well good good evening again uh Deputy Mayor and

[1:14:58] members of council thank you for having me and the rest of my management team

[1:15:01] here for the presentation of community growth 2024 midye report I'm joined

[1:15:07] today by the community growth leadership team representing the respective

[1:15:10] departments Justin parin manager of safety codes Robel Clair manager of

[1:15:14] planning services and Nicole Hannah the recently recruited manager of Economic

[1:15:19] Development before I dive into the midyear report I want to ask you to

[1:15:23] please join me in welcoming Nicole uh as the new manager within uh Community

[1:15:27] growth of Economic Development Nicole is a born and raised Alberton whose first

[1:15:31] job was working on a local Ranch uh this experience solidified Cochran as a

[1:15:35] special Community for Nicole as she pursued her career and life Ambitions in

[1:15:39] addition to her Grassroots Western Heritage experience Nicole has

[1:15:43] significant municipal government Economic Development and Business

[1:15:46] Development experience they will be invaluable in helping nurture grow and

[1:15:50] evolve Cochran's economic potential now and into the future most recently Nicole

[1:15:55] was employed as a business strategist at the City of Calgary and before that as

[1:15:59] an instructor at Sate where she developed Implement managed and

[1:16:02] sustained an Innovative and experiential learning opportunity for the faculty of

[1:16:07] hospitality and trism management academic academically Nicole has a

[1:16:11] masters of food and resource economics from the University of British Columbia

[1:16:15] a bachelor of Economics from the University of Alberta and an

[1:16:18] architecture and building science diploma from

[1:16:23] Sate welcome Nicole so as you're well aware Community

[1:16:29] growth has three departments within it planning Services Economic Development

[1:16:32] and safety codes for 2024 to 2026 Community growth

[1:16:38] uh established three primary objectives uh in the 2024 to 2026 budget process

[1:16:43] those were in Vision coch in 2050 to ensure that in Vision coch in 2050 our

[1:16:47] Municipal development plan is in alignment with council's strategic plan

[1:16:51] and continues to advance on schedule and on budget

[1:16:55] uh this will provide the community with the benefit of a structured and

[1:16:58] sustainable plan for growth and ensure the community's vision is realized the

[1:17:03] second objective was to support and Foster Innovation and Entrepreneurship

[1:17:06] in Cochran with the Cochran station incubator program and other initiatives

[1:17:10] such as Smart Start that help entrepreneurs and local businesses

[1:17:13] Thrive innovate and contribute to posit positively to our community's economic

[1:17:18] growth the third objective was to implement risk mitigation strategies and

[1:17:22] resourcing plans to ensure organizational RIS resiliency and

[1:17:25] business continuity and to maintain an Advan efficient and effective service

[1:17:30] levels that can consistently be relied upon by our partners in the development

[1:17:34] community and citizens of Cochran all these objectives are either in progress

[1:17:38] or on schedule for completion and uh or complete which you uh will hear more

[1:17:44] about from each of my managers in the respective departments in this mid in

[1:17:48] this midyear report for their areas please join me in welcoming Rob O Clair

[1:17:51] manager of planing Services who will walk you through the mid year report for

[1:17:54] planning services and uh we'll do questions for each component at the end

[1:17:59] thank

[1:18:02] [Music] you thank you Mark good evening Deputy

[1:18:07] Mayor and Council my name is Rob O Clair and I am the manager of planning

[1:18:11] services and I'm pleased to be here tonight to share my midyear RBA

[1:18:16] information with you 2024 has been a busy year for

[1:18:21] planning um as of the end of June we have received 137 development permit

[1:18:27] applications and are on track to complete approximately 270 uh

[1:18:32] development permits by the end of the year this is a 150% increase from

[1:18:39] 2023 we have seen significant increase in secondary Suites which are projecting

[1:18:44] or which are projected to increase as the year progresses we are ant

[1:18:49] anticipating over 100 Suite applications we have also completed 3 47

[1:18:55] certificate of compliance applications and anticipate completing appr

[1:19:00] approximately 700 increasing the amount of compliance applications seen in

[1:19:04] 2023 at midyear 2024 we have already Sur surpassed the number of council reports

[1:19:10] from 2023 we are uh on track to bring approximately 100 reports to council by

[1:19:16] Year's end this is the third year of increased reports to

[1:19:22] council all this work has been completed by a total of nine staff which is a

[1:19:27] decrease in Staffing levels from the previous two

[1:19:31] years the municipal government act dictates the allowable time that a

[1:19:35] Development Authority must one deem an application complete which is 20 days

[1:19:40] and two provide a decision back to the applicant which is 60 days planning

[1:19:45] Services uses this criteria to track how well we do against these

[1:19:49] timelines as of midye we are hitting our Targets on approximately 72% of our

[1:19:54] applications for both deem complete and date of

[1:19:58] decision this speaks to the influx of work within the planning Services as as

[1:20:03] I stated in the previous slide as well as the reduction of resources that we

[1:20:08] have seen in the previous two years we have seen 11 subdivision

[1:20:13] applications which is already 79% of the amount we saw in

[1:20:18] 2023 uh these comprise of 440 new residential lots and two commercial Lots

[1:20:25] additionally we have seen the advancement of 460 dwelling units

[1:20:28] through multif family and secondary Suite development permit

[1:20:32] applications this year we are forecasting the advancement of

[1:20:36] approximately 1,800 dwelling units through the subdivision development and

[1:20:40] permit phases of the development Continuum these are now ready to or

[1:20:45] ready for the Final Phase of development in the development Continuum which is

[1:20:49] building permits just some accomplishments in

[1:20:54] 2024 we have completed the rolling Trails Area Redevelopment plan which was

[1:20:59] Cochran's first ever ARP submission to cmrb we we have completed the growth

[1:21:05] study which will be presented at coun uh to Council in

[1:21:09] Q4 we have completed the phase two of Engagement and launched the draft plan

[1:21:14] for Envision Cochran 2050 the final draft will be coming to council later

[1:21:19] this

[1:21:22] year we completed the First Street Road closure with con with the consolidation

[1:21:26] plan being completed or anticipated to be completed by Q4 we have onboarded uh

[1:21:33] myself the new manager of planning services and created more structure and

[1:21:37] better alignment through our planning

[1:21:41] process our outdated technology has created significant impacts on our

[1:21:46] application timelines as well as our deem complete and decision date uh

[1:21:50] compliance rates additionally the reduction in our staff is contributing

[1:21:55] towards business continuity employee satisfaction and customer service

[1:22:00] related

[1:22:02] risks looking at next steps we are looking into Technology Solutions which

[1:22:07] will ultimately help application timelines introducing more structure to

[1:22:11] our processes to increase consistency and

[1:22:15] productivity uh looking at succession planning and investments into continuous

[1:22:22] education thank you that concludes my portion of the presentation I will now

[1:22:26] hand it over to Nicole H to go through her portion of the presentation thank

[1:22:33] you thank you rob Council excellent to meet you my name is Nicole hen uh I the

[1:22:42] new manager of Economic Development I'm excited to be working back here in

[1:22:46] Cochran Economic Development supports entrepreneurship innovation in order to

[1:22:51] contribute to a Vibrant Community here in Cochran the the department offers

[1:22:55] Support Services to existing local businesses while also broadening

[1:22:59] Cochran's sustainable economic growth through business retention investment

[1:23:03] attraction tourism development and Regional

[1:23:09] collaboration how much this year as of July 24th 2,230 business business

[1:23:15] licenses have been approved this is an increase of 58 more than 2023 is total

[1:23:22] non-residential licenses have the strong strongest growth at

[1:23:26] 5.4% increasing year-over-year business licenses are projected to set a

[1:23:31] record in 2024 with a 5 per increase and again still continued growth overall

[1:23:38] we've seen a 14% increase in total licenses since 2020 which is

[1:23:43] approximately 281 additional business licenses that have been

[1:23:49] added Cochran has collaborated with economic development partner innovate

[1:23:54] cochr to deliver a $950,000 prairie scan Grant

[1:23:58] with funding over the next 3 years along with the town's contribution 30

[1:24:03] different mentors coaches and experts from the community have contributed to

[1:24:07] programs with over 260 hours of volunteer time programming has continued

[1:24:13] to advance in the incubator establishing roundt founder roundtables five weekly

[1:24:18] expert sessions and one-on

[1:24:23] ones to date 21 organizations have participated in business and Innovation

[1:24:28] programs funded or supported by the town of Cochran Cochran business incubator

[1:24:33] currently has eight companies in Residence and our Smart Start program

[1:24:38] which was launched in the spring will graduate all seven participants this

[1:24:42] fall in the upcoming October the community Innovation

[1:24:46] ecosystem successfully trained six participants in partnership with Unbound

[1:24:50] thinking and innovate Cochran and the town itself three of eight companies

[1:24:56] have had their first Revenue 62% of those in the incubator currently had

[1:25:00] Revenue prior to entering to the program and 25% of those companies have hired

[1:25:04] their first

[1:25:08] employee these are definitely not my accomplishments but they will be uh

[1:25:14] Community growth has filled the vacant position of manager of Economic

[1:25:17] Development and work has already started on advancing an updated Economic

[1:25:21] Development strategy which includes opportunities to explore or

[1:25:24] postsecondary Partnerships within Cochran this expands on The Bold

[1:25:29] workshops and xyc design presentation on hidden density from the previous year

[1:25:34] Economic Development has ensured sustained momentum for critical Economic

[1:25:38] Development initiatives despite significant employee

[1:25:42] turnover we have decreased safety incidences since the integration of

[1:25:46] Station security as part of the short-term station sustainment plan we

[1:25:51] will be meeting later this month to kind of continue on with this

[1:25:57] planning emerging risks we have ongoing challenges with business continuity and

[1:26:03] resourcing with the transfer of resources from Economic Development to

[1:26:07] customer service admin along with the integration of the visitor information

[1:26:11] system center and the responsibilities as now part of our short-term station

[1:26:17] sustainment plan additionally we've identifi identified some challenges in

[1:26:21] data collection and process Improvement with limited Staffing Resources

[1:26:26] currently one full-time staff member handles all of our business licenses for

[1:26:30] the

[1:26:32] town next steps economic development in collaboration with Cochran tourism will

[1:26:39] create a joint tourism strategy with an organizational Focus together we will

[1:26:44] explore current state allowing us to accurately identify the most effective

[1:26:48] policies and actions for bringing up the advancement of Cochran tourism and

[1:26:53] economic development mment we are working closely with innovate Cochran to

[1:26:58] meet all reporting criteria for our Prairie scan Grant and we have a project

[1:27:03] Charter in place for the incubator leading up to our first reporting

[1:27:06] deadline in January of 2025 recommendations for the creation of

[1:27:12] a Cochran station operation and programming committee which will ensure

[1:27:16] a greater alignment and encourage ongoing corporate collaboration will

[1:27:21] provide Clarity and assigned resources and responsibilities to the correct

[1:27:26] subject matter expertise to maintain operate and sustain the station

[1:27:32] programs as part of our short-term station sustainment plan increasing

[1:27:36] workspaces at the station is underway with an intent to bolster activity uh

[1:27:41] for the downtown location that is it for me up next is

[1:27:49] Justin thank you Nicole good evening Deputy Mayor and council members uh my

[1:27:54] name is Justin parin and I'm the manager of the safety codes area the town of

[1:28:00] Cochran is an accredited municipality under the safety codes Council of

[1:28:03] Alberta the safety codes leg legislation provides us the ability to employ safety

[1:28:08] codes officers permit issures to administer the provincially adopted

[1:28:12] codes and standards here in Alberta we issue permits and inspect work to ensure

[1:28:17] Code Compliance is met for new construction and Renovations within the

[1:28:21] Cochran's Municipal boundaries both residential and non-residential

[1:28:26] with the continued growth within the town permits and inspections are

[1:28:30] trending to exceed last year's totals and overall construction value

[1:28:34] investment in the community is expected to be an all-time high continued support

[1:28:39] for capacity in our area helps our team continue to provide our legislative

[1:28:43] services to the

[1:28:46] community we have maintained our quality management plan or qmp compliance Target

[1:28:51] for permit issuance and inspection schedule

[1:28:54] uh targets supported by continued process Improvement efficiencies and

[1:28:59] Staffing

[1:29:02] capacities continued investment in our business unit has reduced our Reliance

[1:29:06] on contract Service all while trending towards record sending perent Revenue

[1:29:10] due to the amount of construction investment within the

[1:29:17] community within the first half of 2024 we have reduced our contract Service

[1:29:22] cost completed multi successful recruitments maintained our qmp

[1:29:27] compliance Target supported our employees continuing education goals and

[1:29:32] focused on customer service and communication Improvement through

[1:29:35] ongoing website

[1:29:38] improvements business continuity Still Remains as a risk and code

[1:29:42] non-compliances are trending

[1:29:47] upwards as we look ahead we are focusing on succession planning and continuous

[1:29:51] education initiatives for staff development and and career growth

[1:29:55] looking into ways to that allow us to utilize our permitting software to Aid

[1:29:59] other business units and focus on a code requirement education initiative to

[1:30:04] support owners contractors understanding of provincial code

[1:30:08] requirements um thank you for your time I'll pass this back to mark for final

[1:30:16] thoughts thank you so uh all these are all these objectives together so cochr

[1:30:22] continues to be a community of choice uh for investment by the development

[1:30:25] Community as evidenced by the record setting volume and pace of activity in

[1:30:29] Cochran over the first half of this year as you have heard we are on Pace to for

[1:30:33] a record setting year for development in Cochran uh Community growth is

[1:30:36] projecting new records for development permits building permits inspections

[1:30:40] reports to council and annual construction value which is exceeded 220

[1:30:44] Million by midye and projected to exceed 300 million by the end of the year we're

[1:30:48] also maintaining positive momentum at the station expansion of support for

[1:30:52] entrepreneurship and innovation with the recent prair can grant we received

[1:30:56] completion of the inaugural Community Innovation ecosystem program and

[1:30:59] initiative initiation of smart start looking forward uh to the

[1:31:05] remainder of 2024 and into 2025 Community growth will be focusing on the

[1:31:09] following areas uh and the and for the remainder 2024 and the 2025 2027 budget

[1:31:16] exercise which is which is looking for additional resources exploring

[1:31:20] Technology Solutions and process improvements investigating opportunity

[1:31:24] ities uh to generate Revenue as well as advancing plans and strategies that

[1:31:29] align with vision C in 2050 and improve customer service and service lines with

[1:31:34] that I'm happy to answer any questions that you may

[1:31:37] have all right I believe Council Reed was first of the

[1:31:43] buch yeah I had a a comment uh a question of clarity and then a question

[1:31:48] itself so I'm really pleased to hear what I heard about the investment

[1:31:52] Council made in terms of the safety area that that sounds uh that it's trending

[1:31:56] in the right direction and I'm just looking for uh Clarity around I'm

[1:32:00] uncertain if we were if we were just pitched a pre-budget request for staff

[1:32:05] and technology or if it's just a an are we experiencing a challenge in terms of

[1:32:09] finding and hiring good people and not having enough time to effectively assess

[1:32:14] a technology that is already currently budgeted so are we looking is this a

[1:32:19] pre-budget request is that that we're hearing the first pitch of

[1:32:24] uh through the chair I I wouldn't say a pre-budget request but it is a just a

[1:32:28] heads up of what community growth is looking for uh moving forward correct

[1:32:33] okay um and then with the economic development and the incubation Center uh

[1:32:38] what were the measures of success Beyond just graduation what what

[1:32:43] are the measures of success for the incubation Center uh through the chair

[1:32:48] uh councilor read some of the measures for success as defined by pris scan are

[1:32:53] a minimum number number of uh science Technology and Engineering and math

[1:32:57] positions created as well as a number of hqp so high quality professional

[1:33:02] positions uh created through the through the program uh so what we're working on

[1:33:07] right now is the completion of the project chart as'll identify how we'll

[1:33:11] work with our other partners to deliver the sueda programs of uh Community

[1:33:15] Innovation ecosystem the incubator and Smart Start to deliver uh on those

[1:33:21] positions I'm wondering if it's possible to get a one page document just indicate

[1:33:25] what the measures of success are and what they were with this graduating

[1:33:28] class that would be I would appreciate that I think that might be worthwhile in

[1:33:31] terms of our community given the investment that council's made on that

[1:33:35] in that invest uh incubator Center uh through the chair we'd be happy to

[1:33:39] prepare something for thank you okay councelor foro uh through Mr

[1:33:45] jerich to Mr krinski um I think that there was a comment and it says in here

[1:33:49] that there was a decrease of Staff uh from the past two years I guess I'm just

[1:33:54] curious are people moving on for other opportunities or is there a reason for

[1:33:58] that decrease I guess I'm a little surprised that this is kind of the the

[1:34:01] first time that council's being made aware especially when we know how busy

[1:34:04] the planning department actually is uh through the chair uh councelor

[1:34:09] foro uh the resources reallocated to an area of Greater impact uh within the

[1:34:14] organization and uh was uh something that was done in discussion with myself

[1:34:18] and understanding of the opportunity to address a greater need and then I know

[1:34:23] that that I was brought up about licensing that I believe there's only

[1:34:26] one person doing licensing but um and I and I'm assuming that's at the station

[1:34:31] that there's one person doing licensing at the station is that kind of where it

[1:34:34] was related to uh through the chair Council fedo yes we have uh one resource

[1:34:38] uh currently assigned to business licensing because I do know that there

[1:34:41] was some staff down there but there was some shifting of Staff some people left

[1:34:45] I'm just curious as to and that was quite a while ago a few months ago so

[1:34:48] I'm just curious as to why we don't have other people down there quite yet to be

[1:34:52] able to help out because obviously some people it's not like they they have

[1:34:57] budgeted money for their jobs right so is it the fact that we just haven't been

[1:35:00] able to find Qualified staff or I'm just trying to get a handle on what's

[1:35:03] happening with the Staffing comp component yeah uh through the chair uh

[1:35:07] the comment was specific to uh the Staffing within Community growth and uh

[1:35:11] Economic Development so the previous resources uh in economic development

[1:35:16] that were re allocated were not responsible for business licensing uh

[1:35:20] they had primarily visitor information center functions which have actually

[1:35:24] been transferred to another group in customer service and admin who is

[1:35:28] helping support us by taking on those functions um as well as trying to help

[1:35:31] support them with their business continuity as well by ensuring we have a

[1:35:35] sufficient Staffing level in both areas okay and I was kind of uh similar to

[1:35:40] councilor Reed I was just kind of curious what the budget asked was kind

[1:35:44] of looking like and also whether or not you believe um safety codes needs to

[1:35:48] have additional resources I I look at it this way um wearing a completely

[1:35:52] different hat that I have uh there there's some interesting things going on

[1:35:56] when it comes to development right now and I do believe that it's it's hard to

[1:36:00] keep up with all the stuff going on when you have a limited amount of people

[1:36:04] doing checks and balances and and that to me becomes a little bit scary because

[1:36:08] once things are built you're not taking them down so I'm just curious from the

[1:36:12] group of view is it do you need more people on the planning side do you need

[1:36:16] more people on the Safety Code side um or what kind of is that balance um are

[1:36:21] you kind of thinking yeah through the ch councelor FCO uh I think one of the

[1:36:25] messages we're hoping to convey is the support from Council uh for safety codes

[1:36:30] and the work of our partners and administration and helping us develop a

[1:36:33] resourcing plan has had a positive impact um on their ability to uh handle

[1:36:38] a significant increase in volume uh and we do appreciate that uh from all

[1:36:43] participants uh on the planning side of course we are seeing significant

[1:36:47] increases in volume which also comes with increases the complexity uh as the

[1:36:51] municipality grows over time and uh additional resources definitely help us

[1:36:55] uh achieve a higher quality uh of development for uh for the municipality

[1:37:00] while maintaining uh uh alignment with expectations of members of the community

[1:37:06] as including the development community and if and if you have challenges in the

[1:37:10] planning department have you thought about just like kind of slowing down I I

[1:37:13] know that that's not exactly an easy thing to be able to go to people because

[1:37:16] then you make somebody else angry within the process but I'm I'm just curious is

[1:37:20] there you know that that thought to just take take a deep breath pause and just

[1:37:25] I'm not saying cancel anything but just take a deep breath and maybe slow things

[1:37:29] down so that we're not rushing because when you're rushing and everything's

[1:37:31] getting done all at once I go back to what I said before the end product is uh

[1:37:35] what ends up suffering right so uh through the chair Council Deco I

[1:37:40] think uh in my experience uh over the past year I think we've tried to balance

[1:37:44] uh ensuring that we meet the expectations of the development

[1:37:47] Community as well as particularly our MGA uh requirements for for timelines

[1:37:52] that we're constantly endeavoring to achieve while also making sure we

[1:37:55] prioritize uh mental health and well-being um of our resources and take

[1:37:59] a long-term business continuity look to ensure that we are not uh either

[1:38:04] jeopardizing the quality uh of the work that we do uh or uh the ability for us

[1:38:10] to maintain continuity of the service levels that have been established

[1:38:14] previously so I believe we're are taking a balanced approach okay thank you

[1:38:19] that's all the questions that I have for now coun f

[1:38:24] um yeah thank you um very much I wanted to say first off uh kudos to yourself

[1:38:30] and to your team um what I see throughout your report here is just

[1:38:35] increase in efficiency and improve Service delivery to uh our residents so

[1:38:40] thank you very much uh to you and your team and all your team members for the

[1:38:43] great work it's much appreciated um and while I can appreciate counc goes I was

[1:38:48] like let's make sure we're doing it right I know there are a lot of

[1:38:51] pressures on you um to make sure you are delivering these services in as timely

[1:38:56] manner as possible so you know any delay in getting a housing permit affects

[1:39:01] somebody's ability to move in and find a new home affects the business that

[1:39:04] surrounds that those type of things so um yeah so first of all Kudos uh to that

[1:39:09] um a lot of information presented there and I was kind of tempted to put a break

[1:39:13] on after each of your presenters so I could uh drill down um but we didn't so

[1:39:17] we'll have to see how many of my notes I could go back to if that's all

[1:39:20] right what I did here overall um was uh your challenges which I I

[1:39:27] appreciate you identifying and and as our colleagues have identified is it a

[1:39:31] is it a pre-budget Lobby in which case well done um but you'd identified the

[1:39:35] business uh continuity uh as a challenge across the board I feel and so what is

[1:39:41] that business continuity is that just a staff turnover or what is that actually

[1:39:44] speaking to uh through the chair uh counselor mcfaden I think there are a a

[1:39:49] couple of opportunities uh we currently have some fairly outdated software that

[1:39:54] we uh manage our planning Services Department through so it's not just uh

[1:39:59] Staffing levels but of course uh additional staff allows us to succession

[1:40:03] plan and ensure that we have additional uh backup and support for

[1:40:08] unforeseen uh absences whether that be leave or um moving off from the

[1:40:15] organization so which do have impacts uh of course okay on maintaining levels

[1:40:20] sorry okay and so when I did hear that that

[1:40:24] if I understood the presentation correctly that currently understaff in

[1:40:27] both planning and economic uh development um not in safety codes but

[1:40:32] what is your strategy for understaffed and so and I not sure if I heard in your

[1:40:36] presentation that those resources have been allocated elsewhere in the res in

[1:40:40] the in the organization but did I hear that correctly that we've been taking

[1:40:46] for your team to put those resources to other parts of the organization or are

[1:40:51] those resources being reallocated within your Department uh through the chair I

[1:40:55] wouldn't say per per se taking as I was involved in all of those conversations

[1:40:59] but have been reallocated to areas uh of Greater need I I would also draw

[1:41:03] attention to us having a unique opportunity with uh two new members of

[1:41:08] uh coch Administration with the manager of planning services and a manager of

[1:41:11] Economic Development so I believe it's important to involve them in that uh

[1:41:16] resourcing plan once they have an opportunity to identify uh what the

[1:41:20] greatest challenges are and how best to overcome them to make sure that is in

[1:41:24] alignment with uh with their style of management and approach so um there is

[1:41:29] of course a need and I think we've dealt with challenges this year with a couple

[1:41:32] of absences in our management team but uh I don't believe that we've put

[1:41:37] ourselves at a critical level the Highlight is more the plan that we've

[1:41:40] put in place I think with safety codes has been effective and is yielding very

[1:41:43] positive uh results which we are Midway through implementation of uh of that

[1:41:48] plan uh which did request additional resources in future years as well so

[1:41:53] it's important for me in your in your strategy that as your um your staff is

[1:41:58] delivering we're seeing at the numbers here in your report um that part of your

[1:42:03] HR strategy also ensures that we're not burning good people out um and so I'd

[1:42:08] like to make sure that I see these great faces year after year and not like here

[1:42:13] and G on um so then the other piece I saw and I think you spoke a little bit

[1:42:18] to it was around uh you've got new managers coming on you want to give them

[1:42:22] some space to kind of develop their own strategies but has there been a change

[1:42:27] in service level Focus around um at the station around uh supporting the tourism

[1:42:32] and the information booth I know I've got I received a lot of comments about

[1:42:36] that and that it is a missed resource in our community um can you talk to me

[1:42:40] about what your strategy is there yeah through the chair uh Council mcfaden uh

[1:42:44] in the short-term sustainment plan we believe that we actually were able to

[1:42:48] provide a more sustainable level of service by the transfer of resources to

[1:42:53] area which provided more consistent um service levels uh we were sta very lean

[1:42:58] historically with the visitor information center uh to the point where

[1:43:02] it was difficult if uh if possible uh to provide coverage for um for vacations

[1:43:09] and leaves of absences this has provided uh more sustainability I believe in in

[1:43:14] both teams uh in terms of the moving forward plan for cckr and tourism we're

[1:43:18] actually looking to be uh develop a strategy that's more comprehensive

[1:43:21] working with all Partners in the the uh Cochran Community not just Cochran

[1:43:25] tourism but also see our partners with Cochran Chamber of Commerce and Council

[1:43:30] Administration to develop a long-term uh Cochran tourism strategy over the course

[1:43:35] of 2025 we'll be looking to uh Charter um

[1:43:41] the work to start working with them and uh put some pend of paper working with

[1:43:44] all participants to develop a long-term plan that will frame some of the

[1:43:48] priorities but in the a term there have already been uh initial conversations

[1:43:52] with myself and uh the executive director of CAU and tourism as well as

[1:43:56] the new manager of Economic Development who stepped in and uh uh started

[1:44:00] fostering a positive working relationship with that organization as

[1:44:03] well okay uh from My Lens I think it is really important that we find a way to

[1:44:08] uh have that face face engagement for the tourism visitor information all

[1:44:12] those pieces um I think that's a party for me and I think I've certainly been

[1:44:15] hearing that it's missed and certainly folks have identified the inconsistency

[1:44:19] that was going through in your Staffing challenges but for my side that is a

[1:44:22] priority to make sure we are having that face Toof face engagement um at the

[1:44:26] station um I think my last question for now and I do appreciate all your

[1:44:30] responses in regards to the is it the Prairie can grant that's where the chair

[1:44:36] Council make F Prairie's can right that's what I meant to say thanks for

[1:44:41] that um prairies can grant of just under a million bucks is that the one that was

[1:44:46] uh in partnership with um innovate Cochran uh the council in mcf that is

[1:44:52] correct okay all righty um yeah and again I just wanted to say I really

[1:44:56] appreciate um these reports and the details in your metrics uh I really

[1:45:01] appreciate being able to see the service levels there um the only thing I think I

[1:45:06] know it's buried in here and you you did capture it in your presentation but um

[1:45:11] it might just be me but it would be great to see both um I see these reports

[1:45:15] as reporting on your core workor but if there could be maybe a different report

[1:45:20] that also highlighted um your lishments against supporting uh council's

[1:45:25] priorities if that makes sense all right thank you for your time

[1:45:29] and again Kudos uh to you and your team I hope everybody's proud of the work

[1:45:33] they do for coner thank you okay councelor clars thanks for all

[1:45:39] the information the updates it's a very busy area important and um so much

[1:45:45] growth and so many changes to deal with that um we have a lot of questions

[1:45:49] tonight I was really uh happy to hear about the increase s the applications

[1:45:54] for secondary Suites so I think that's one solution to affordable housing and

[1:45:59] um people are seeing it in they're following through but I'm wondering what

[1:46:02] the challenges are and is there any programs available to help people get

[1:46:07] educated on how to do that or to um programs to help them make it happen uh

[1:46:13] through the chair Council fathers I'm actually going to ask my manager of

[1:46:16] planning services to help out with this one because he see secondary sweets on a

[1:46:19] on a very consistent basis and I uh C Planning Commission as well

[1:46:27] Rob thank you through the chair to councelor filers um we have

[1:46:31] pre-application processes where anyone can ask questions of the planning team

[1:46:36] of specific requirements or um anything to do with the land use bylaw in terms

[1:46:41] of secondary Suite applications so we are absolutely there to coach anyone

[1:46:45] through that process I know it can be an extensive process for sure um but uh the

[1:46:52] jobs of the planners are to be there as the point person to guide them through

[1:46:56] that that application process good to hear Do we have any rules about how many

[1:47:01] can be per block I can't remember uh through the chair to councelor flowers

[1:47:05] we do have uh in the land use bylaw there is um there is a clause uh sorry

[1:47:14] it's it's in the land use pyo but doesn't it doesn't actually say a

[1:47:19] specific number it is more of a an Administration uh discretion of of how

[1:47:24] many of what percentage of the block face of of how much of that can be

[1:47:29] secondary Suites uh so we do have a me mechanism there I believe the number is

[1:47:36] uh I can't tell you off the top of my head I'd have to look at the land use

[1:47:40] bylaw uh but there is a mechanism for that for sure but uh basically what

[1:47:45] happens in in those situations is we would refer the secondary Suite

[1:47:48] applications to the Cochran Planning Commission for their review uh because

[1:47:53] then they become the Development Authority on those on those

[1:47:56] applications good to hear thank you for that um what other question do I have I

[1:48:03] I too was concerned about the um visitor information center such as um Council

[1:48:09] mcfaden was talking about um I've heard things that people aren't are having

[1:48:13] trouble getting answers to their questions and that it's not not

[1:48:17] consistent so I too would really like to see a plan in place for improving that

[1:48:22] service and making sure it's adequate uh through the chair of council

[1:48:26] flowers we can assure you that we are looking at strengthening that and uh I

[1:48:31] do want to give uh kudos to our uh our partners and customer service and admin

[1:48:34] who I believe have uh provided uh some great excellent uh customer service and

[1:48:39] we to give a little bit of assurance we've uh even been hosting some training

[1:48:44] sessions where we provide opportunities for Cochran tourism uh to share uh

[1:48:49] opportunities and about what you can do in Cochran for visitors who are looking

[1:48:53] for the face tof face uh interaction however also looking to the Future and

[1:48:57] asking ourselves how best do people want to receive information uh as a visitor

[1:49:02] and whether that is face to face and and where the trends are changing so I know

[1:49:06] cochr tourism has a lens on that as well as our manager of Economic Development I

[1:49:11] appreciate that people are filling in and I always think face to face is the

[1:49:15] best especially someone outside the community um what else um oh and the

[1:49:22] commit comme to assist with the programming at the station I think

[1:49:26] that's a really great idea we talked about that way back at the beginning and

[1:49:29] I don't think it ever happened but to bring in experts and have other um views

[1:49:34] on the programming I think is excellent I think that was um all that I

[1:49:40] had thank you very much okay um last question for me

[1:49:45] something I brought up with Mr derot earlier but I want to bring up our

[1:49:47] meeting today um with on the topic of growth it's our off-site Levy bylaw is

[1:49:52] the thing that's of most concern to me just making sure we're keeping up with a

[1:49:55] plan for our capital and paying for it uh do we know when council's going to

[1:49:59] have an update on updating our offsite Levy bylaw I'm not sure if this team

[1:50:05] would be the appropriate people but the growth topic is the appropriate time to

[1:50:08] bring it up uh through the chair uh the offsite Levy bylaw is being run by a

[1:50:13] partner of mine actually the uh director of engineering and Asset Services so I

[1:50:16] would be remiss to try and comment on their behalf but uh okay perhaps uh Mr

[1:50:21] Heyman has a an update or we can provide another one for Council later for the uh

[1:50:26] benefit of council uh we are working on that it'll likely be uh in the first

[1:50:30] quarter of uh 2025 you will get the update with the updated values uh again

[1:50:37] there's been a lot of focus uh we work in in partnership with our finance team

[1:50:41] and they're working on uh obviously we're all working on budget so uh that's

[1:50:45] the timeline that we're looking for to have those in front of council okay

[1:50:49] early in the New Year okay yeah and I just want to bring that up because as

[1:50:52] your your report mentioned tonight we're um growing very very quickly and we need

[1:50:56] to make sure we're planning adequately to pay for Capital to accommodate all

[1:50:59] that growth that's it for me anything else from Council anything else from

[1:51:03] Administration anything else from our pres presenters thank you for your time

[1:51:07] okay thank you and that I believe is the close of the public portion of this

[1:51:12] meeting we do have an in camera this evening can I get a motion to on camera

[1:51:17] for one of my colleagues coun faten makes the motion all in favor

[1:51:23] and we are in camera

Committee of the Whole - 16 Sep 2024

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