Rob: Next week’s going to be a really busy week for public hearings.

Mayor John Borrowman: We have three public hearings on the agenda for next Tuesday. The Teepee Town Area Redevelopment Plan, which I expect we’ll have a lot of interest in. And also there’s two road closures that we approved at first reading some time ago, one of which is a small bit of road closure up in the Palliser Trail area which is required to move forward with a new fire hall proposed there. And there’s a road closure for 3 and 5 Railway Court, which is in behind the condominium project at Railway Court. There’s a few lots in there that there’s a discussion about selling those town owned lands to a private landowner in there. Because of the current restrictions on public gatherings, we’re going to be trying the public hearings via Zoom. So members of the public, if they want to submit verbal comments at a public hearing, can do so using either a computer, mobile device or a landline. If people want to have the link, they should register with the municipal clerk at municipal.clerk@canmore.ca Written submissions are welcomed as well.

Rob: That Railway Court one. There’s been a bit of a stir online about it that I’ve been reading over the last day here. Is that like a private developer that’s going to be developing over Policemen’s Creek and disrupting habitat there?

John: It’s not a development company. It’s people that own a property there and they wanted to redesign the layout of their lots and purchase some of the town land adjacent to allow for greater setback to the creek itself.

Tanya: Closing an unused roadway and using that land for housing is not unusual. Road allowances in the province is basically this grid of land that’s set aside and if you don’t use those, you can rezone on them for other things. Part of the conversation might be that if providing public land in order to get that setback is something being considered, might there also be an opportunity for this private land owner to contribute towards community housing in return?

John: That’s a very good question, but you’re right, road closures are not uncommon. In fact, all of the community lands that were developed into the affordable housing projects up in the Three Sisters, those were an exchange from Three Sisters for road closures that took place on their undeveloped lands. It’s important that there is a public hearing because there is an effect for the community. In the case of this one, there’s a popular trail through the woods behind the Railway Court condominiums. That trail will have to be moved a little bit and when people are walking along that trail, they’ll be likely seeing three new houses. If this proceeds, that will change the nature of the walk through the woods there. On that basis, I would expect to hear some input at the public hearing.

Filed under: Canmore, Mayor John Borrowman, Mountain Insider