Development In the Crowsnest Pass

My position on development in the Crowsnest Pass:

In the Crowsnest Pass it's not a surprise to most people we have a huge problem almost 90% of our tax base is residential. Our primary source of employment is the coal mines in the Elk Valley, our secondary sources of employment,  a few government jobs, and the retail and service sectors.

Do we need Development in the Crowsnest Pass? Beyond a shadow of doubt. 

With approximately 3200 homes in the Pass building 15-20 homes a year will take us close to 200 years just to maintain the number of homes we have today. The next council needs to sit down with residential developers and determine what we as a community can do to attract more building here. Off site levies need to be done away with completely not a one year freeze that is presently in place. We need to look at the fees we charge for people to build, are we in line with communities around us that are competing for the same home owners we are. We have to realize that if you attract people here to build they will pay taxes on that property for many years to come, they will put kids in our schools and spend their wages in our community.

Nobody wants another Bridgegate, Medican. What we need is more of the Ironstones, Southmores, Mohawk Meadows, and Timberlines. All of those developments were good for the Pass and will continue to help us to increase our tax base over the coming years.

Commercial development, we are in desperate need of it commercial development not only creates employment through the building stage, but then it creates long term employment for as long as the business is in existence. Let's not forget one commercial business will pay the equivalent taxes of many homes.

So to be clear again Dean Ward as been and will be pro-development, my wish is to see us grow at a much greater rate than we presently are.

If elected I will propose to the rest of Council that we sit down with all the developers and builders in the Crowsnest Pass, find out what the issues are and determine where the municipality can help.

Let’s Encourage Development Please

In a community that over the last 20 years has averaged maybe ten new homes a year, that has been hit with the closure of the Devon Gas Plant just in the last two months we need to encourage people to build here.

Even during the time when everybody is thrilled to hear that we may be the potential home for a Quebec manufacturer that could one day generate up to a hundred jobs. In addition a major new development going up in place of the Crowsnest Centre remember the “demolition before the first snow falls speech”.

What enlightening new idea have our leaders come up with to encourage people to build here? Bylaw 843-Safety Codes Service Fees.

We are going to take the cost of having those new homes certified from $3,683 to $8,080 by 2014 an increase of $4397 a 119% increase that's right 119%.

Hard to believe isn’t it?    

Maybe the real story will come out in the Crowsnest Pass?

Check out this link:

http://forums.canadianbusiness.com/thread.jspa?threadID=20132&start=15&tstart=0

"Is anyone willing to talk to a reporter doing a major story on Bridgecreek in the Pass? Is there anyone who invested who's willing to go on record or has some inside knowledge of the company? If so, let me know - I'd like to talk."


Hopefully anybody that ever been involved with this will see this as an opportunity to step forward and tell the whole "honest" truth.

Wow I bet there are people sitting in front of their computers right now, saying I hope this reporter speaks about "everything" that happened here!

Crowsnest Pass and Bridgecreek Development

At council on Tuesday August 17, we received a request from Bridgecreek to rezone the old glass shop in Blairmore from C2 to Direct Control. (Next door to the Blairmore Legion)
In the background information they informed us that they needed the property to be Direct Control because their proposed development (24 bungalow style residences) would not conform with present R3 guidelines in our municipal Land Use Bylaw.
In the information package they also informed us that they would be requesting Council to waive the "Off site levy charge" for the project. At approximatly $5000 a units it would be a loss to the municipality of $120,000.
A Motion was made be Councilor Taje to support first reading of the rezoning request, the Motion was defeated by a vote of 4-3 with Mayor Irwin Councilors Mitchell and Taje in favour.
Councilors Cole, Macleod, Salus and Ward opposed.

Gold Creek Development in the Crowsnest Pass

July 20 the Gold Creek Development came to Council to seek approval on their development agreement and the amount of security they would be required to post with the Municipality prior to commencing.
They provided information that gave a list of quotes for the various types of work required which came to a total of $738,000, within their documentation I noticed that there was a note attached that stated "the quote could vary by up to +/- 20%" which of course alarmed myself and some of the other councilors.
After some debate came a suggestion from myself that a simple solution which would protect the municipality/taxpayers was to pass the Development Agreement with a condition that the Security Deposit would be raised 20% to $900,000.
Within the debate comments were raised that after what happened at the River run site should we not be proceeding, very carefully. All made sense right?
What occurred after that just blew me away when the vote was called Councilor Mitchell and Mayor Irwin were opposed, Councilors Ward, Cole, Salus and Macleod were in favour. Irwin and Mitchell felt that increasing the Security Deposit was not required.
Thankfully it passed and yes the Developer may feel that the additional security was not necessary but if they live up to their commitments they get all the money back, and the faster they work the faster the money is released, and the Municipality has no risk.
How or why would anybody vote against this?

If anybody does not understand the concerns here I will have pictures of the River Run Development shortly

How to get a small town excited about development

Much as been said on other Blog sites regarding development in the Crowsnest Pass, and the silence from members of council regarding some of these developments.
First of all if a development does go bad here there is no question that lots of lawyers will find much employment, and make loads of money. Hopefully it does not come to that.
Anybody that as sat on a municipal council in the province of Alberta understands that issues discussed in camera by council that could be extremely sensitive from a legal point of view can not be discussed publicly, in fact during this term of the present council there was even an attempt by some members of council to remove one councilor because an issue that was dealt with in camera was reported by a local paper. This failed but it certainly drove home the seriousness of speaking to in camera issues.

Anyway lets clear up some misconceptions and rumors here, first of all Councilor Dean Ward as not done any of the following:
I have never been an employee of or received any kind of income from any developer,
I have never appeared in any kind of promotional video or literature for any developer,
I have never attended or lent credibility to any kind of shareholders or investors meeting.
I have never attended any kind of golf tournament, tickets to Flames games or any of those types of little perks provided by any party.

What am I guilty of? Attempting to encourage development in the Crowsnest Pass, to widen our tax base, to encourage business and people to move here. To create employment, have we been successful?
Some what on Highway 3 we have a development with 34 units built and another block of 6 units being started these units will bring in $150,000 a year in residential taxes, have created a number of construction jobs and supported some of our local businesses.

Other developers have come in to our sleepy little town and created quite a stir with flashy headlines and big proposals, yes councils, investors and numerous other folks have gotten excited and caught up in it.
Look at the following 23 headlines taken from our local paper dating back to 2005 there was a lot more people than just councilors that got caught up in this project.
Will this project or any other work out? I don't know.
We as a council just need to make sure that the communities best interests are looked after, and that taxpayer dollars are not spent pursuing somebodies dreams.

What is really amazing, over the last five years is the number of people that offered me all kinds of advice about how we needed to do everything possible to support development, and what a great thing some of these developers were.
Some of those same people today are telling me I can not believe you folks got sucked in by this stuff.

Council hears Sentinel ?resort village? Proposal Oct 3, 2005
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1933876

Subdivision approval next step for Bridgegate December 6, 2005
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1934028

Two milestones for Bridgegate development January 24, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1934169

Bridgegate budget now over a billion March 2, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1934272

Plans presented for River Run July 19, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1934547

River Run plans given go-ahead August 17, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1934641

Bridgegate rezoning approved Dec 7, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935066

Bridgegate pressing forward Dec 22, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935165

River Run gets go-ahead Jan 24, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935264

Chamber hears Bridgecreek plans Feb 16, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935350

Bridgecreek commits to millions April 19, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935567

Local development hits minor road block May 17, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935670

Town receives funding for Bridgegate project June 28, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935808

River Run Rolling July 19, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935863

Things flow well at River Run Jan 17, 2008
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1936386

Hotel/pool coming to Pass Jan 17, 2008
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1936376

Developing developments in the Pass April 17, 2008
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1936618

Crowsnest Lake construction this year April 17, 2008
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1936610

River Run project still on course June 26, 2008
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1936855
A new year: a new development? Jan 16, 2009
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1388070

A new year: a new development? Jan 16, 2009
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1521519

Coal dust threatens river Feb 6, 2009
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1420330

Bridgecreek consolidating offices July 31, 2009
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1678278

Community geting creative to attract new development

It would be very interesting to know if this has been tried anywhere else and what kind of success they achieved?


EDMONTON — The town of Bruderheim hopes to spur development in an area hit by the recession by eliminating civic property taxes for three years on new home and business construction.
The town is about 40 kilometres northeast of Edmonton near the Industrial Heartland, where billions of dollars worth of proposed oil upgrader projects have been delayed or cancelled in the last two years.
Officials who once expected property assessments to grow by five to 10 per cent a year now feel values will go up by one per cent at most, chief administrative officer Tim Duhamel said Friday.
“There was a lot of optimism about growth in Bruderheim before the economy went south,” he said.
“A lot of the optimism that was around the town has gone down.”
Councillors approved the tax plan in June as a way to attract new residents and businesses, basing it on a similar scheme run by a town in Saskatchewan, Duhamel said.
“It’s wanting to separate us a little bit … to make us attractive as opposed to living in Fort Saskatchewan or Sherwood Park.”
The deal saves homeowners about $4,500 over three years in municipal taxes on the average house, although they still have to pay roughly the same amount in provincial education taxes, Duhamel said.
So far, he feels it has been a success, with three or four new houses underway, a stalled apartment building now scheduled to begin construction later this year and a company looking at setting up a plant in the town of 1,250.
“When you’re talking three, four, five, 10 new housing starts, that’s big for us.”
The program will be examined annually to decide whether it should continue, he said.

Crowsnest Pass Update

Update all things political in the Crowsnest Pass

Anti harassment policy, is nothing to do with censorship, or attempting to control the public. We all have a right to voice our opinions, to take any position we like. All this policy is about is if a municipal employee feels that they are "unfairly" harassed it lays out a procedure as to how they should deal with the issue. This is not about censoring somebody who says unkind things about Dean Ward in a letter to the local paper. (I know that would never happen)

Gold Creek goes in front of the SDAB tomorrow night; the majority of council already supported this development. This really is no different from a lot of the other country residential around here. If we the Municipality are going to take a position that we do not want country residential, then we should do that and apply it to "all" future country residential. For five years, we have worked under the position that if an area could be serviced in a reasonable fashion then we would not approve country residential. All of a sudden, some of us decide that we are going to attempt to force these folks to service an area that would make the development uneconomical. When there are country residential areas closer to services, that some members of this council approved in the past but did not force to service.Then we have the same people arguing that this area is so sensitive for the wildlife, but also maintaining that they should be forced to put more homes in to the area.


Other developments in the Pass, we will see what the future brings. Yes, we have had developers come in here creating great expectations. Have they delivered? Judge for your self. Yes, I feel there were times a lot of people got caught up in the glitz and glamour of all the big promises, I don't believe I was one of those people.

Enhanced Policing was defeated by council last night; some people felt that enforcing municipal bylaws was only a small part of the job. I believe that council needs to review the unsightly premises bylaw, tighten up the rules of what is and is not allowed, and put some real consequences into the bylaw.

Corporate review is still on going, we are expecting the final report Sept/Oct, and from reading previous reviews done by Cuff it should have, some strong recommendations attached to it. Then the issue will be whether council is prepared to act on it or not. Through the debate, one of the councilors that were opposed to the process took the position that we would just do a study and then let it sit on a shelf and collect dust. Well that councilor and the rest of us will have the opportunity to not allow that to happen.

Crowsnest Centre the never-ending story, a motion was passed last night to have the municipal lawyer begin the process of removing the tenants from that building. (This is a legal issue and will be the last I comment on it)

Voting patterns of council, I ask the taxpayers to look at who votes with whom, I know I am repeating myself, but our Mayor and the local media have put a lot of focus on the "four" voting the same way on issues. When in reality better than 90% of the time the votes are something other than 4-3. Is it not time the pubic looks at why the "three" always vote the same way?

Food bank, there was discussions over the Food bank relocating to a municipal owned piece of property, that as now been put on hold as they are looking at alternative locations.


Infrastructure, is going to be a big issue here over the next two years it was brought to councils attention last night that we have a lot of projects coming up, that have been approved for funding by different levels of government, but require us to do the work in advance, then we have to wait for the funding, this will at times put the municipality into a very tight cash flow situation. We have to come up with a solution to this problem. Big concern for the future years is our population, if the numbers are down in the next Census we will be faced with reduced funding. This is where the weekenders create an issue in the sense that if the Pass is not their primary residence we do not receive funding for them. (Roughly $1200 per year per person, last census we dropped 800 people x $1200 equals $960,000 per year)


Ice Problems, I have received numerous calls over the last week regarding ice problems at our Coleman arena. The issue is we are having humidity problems due to the wet weather and our dehumidifier as not worked for a long time. This gets back to the issue of the number of facilities we run. Some people can not get it through their head that we only have a certain amount of dollars to spend on our facilities. So then you have to make a choice between putting dollars into operating or maintaining the facilities. To replace the dehumidifier is a $40,000 cost, it was dropped from last years budget because we did not have the dollars available. This gets back to making tough choices or running our arena during the summer and praying for dry weather (Not much of an operating plan).

Development in the Crowsnest Pass

First of all I have received numerous phone calls and emails regarding development in the Crowsnest Pass. I have also had a number of people direct me to a Canadian Business on line thread that is circulating right now. Do I have my own opinions of what's going on? of course. But being an elected councilor of the Crowsnest Pass I can only comment on what I know to be facts. Which with nothing being official coming out yet leaves me very little I can say.
But a couple of comments I will make and let me be clear:
"I Councilor Dean Ward have not ever been an employee of a developer that has had any business dealings in the Crowsnest Pass"
Also at this time I will not be commenting to, or answering any questions regarding any other member of council that has been an employee of a developer. If you have issues with any other individual that has been involved with any developer take those issues up with that person not myself. Even though I understand peoples frustrations, please do not be calling myself in a very anger tone I will only be responsible for my own actions.

Questions Re Development in the Crowsnest Pass

I am being asked many questions regarding the state of development in the Crowsnest Pass, if you could send me all your questions, regarding this issue by this weekend to deanward4@msn.com I will do an update this weekend and answer all the questions I can.

Interesting Article in this weeks Crowsnest Pass Promoter

RE: Development in the Crowsnest Pass

http://www.crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1388070

Development in the Crowsnest Pass

I have had a number of requests for an update on what's going on with development in the Crowsnest Pass. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here is my update, you can see for yourself what is happening.

Trout Landing on Crowsnest lake















Sunny View Estates in Coleman

















Kananaskis Wilds















Southmore Development















River Run

















PassMont















Valley Ridge Country Estates















Larkspur

















Timber Ridge

Ironstone