[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