Mountain View County's Municipal Planning Commission has agreed to extend subdivision approval for the Netook Crossing North Business Park for three more years.The developers' request for a two-year extension was heard at the March 15 MPC meeting, with the planning department recommending approval.Subdivision of the proposed 38-parcel business park, approved in 2010 and extended for one year already, has been held up by Alberta Transportation's lack of movement on the Highway 2/27 interchange and adjacent lands, MPC heard.“They have been waiting on AT and that department has provided us with a letter saying there were supportive of the time extension happening,” planner Tracey Connatty said.The AT-related issues holding up the project are “more encompassing than just the interchange upgrade itself,” Connatty added.Ken Venner, a planner with Brown and Associates working for the applicants, said there were still “a few issues” to be resolved with AT before the project could go ahead.“One is the request to negotiate a land exchange,” Venner said. “The actual configuration of the interchange keeps changing – it's changing now – so we can't set our southern or eastern boundaries.”Div. 5 Coun. Bob Orr asked whether two years would be enough, and since the county's current policy is to limit time-extensions to one per application, interim planning director John Rusling said Orr's point was a good one.Developer Herb Styles concurred.“Nothing is done until it's done and there are other issues – sewage and water, closure of a service road. In light of the comments, I would prefer to have a time extension of three years,” Styles told MPC from the podium.“We thought Highways was going to be finalized a year ago … We may need additional time, I just don't know.”Div. 1 Coun Kevin Good said he would “have no problem” increasing the extension to three years, noting that much smaller subdivisions are frequently granted one- and two-year extensions.Orr's motion for a three-year extension passed unanimously.
