DIDSBURY-MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - County residents got the chance to learn about the proposed Rosebud Business Park, which is planned for the northeast corner of the Didsbury overpass at the intersection of Highway 2 and Highway 582 at an open house on April 4 at the Didsbury 5-0 Club.
The quarter section highway commercial project is owned by CLT Contracting and is being engineered by Magna Engineering Services.
Wayne Poffenroth, owner of CLT Contracting Development of Didsbury, was one of the developers on hand at the open house.
"We purchased the land and before we've applied for anything we wanted to invite the neighbours out to take a look at what we're doing before we go through with any process," said Poffenroth. "So this is the very first step in showing what it could look like as a development."
The area is identified as being within the economic growth node in the Mountain View County Municipal Development plan.
"The parcel is about 140 acres," he said. "We have six lots that average around 20 to 25 acres. The plan is for some commercial/industrial. This land has been set aside years ago for what's called economic growth node for industrial land. That's why when the land came up for sale we looked at purchasing it."
Next up for the project is to come up with an area structure plan, said Poffenroth.
"That'll be circulated through the community and then it'll go through the application process," he said. "There will be a public hearing for everyone to come and give their comments. That'll probably happen in the next six months if everything goes as planned."
Jennifer Massig, senior engineer for Magna Engineering, said the county has identified a section around each major intersection in Mountain View County as an economic growth node.
"The idea of an economic growth node is that they've identified the idea that industrial development that has the access within the Highway 2 corridor is really good for the county, really good for diversifying the tax base and also controlling where these types of developments are expanding," said Massig.
"We're looking at a concept plan right now that is 20-acre parcels potentially shadow planned to two 10-acre but that larger industrial lot, which there is actually very few of in the county right now."
