OLDS — Town council has passed a bylaw updating the West View Area Structure Plan (ASP) which would see its population increase by 40 people from the original plan approved seven years ago.
The land in question covers about 100 acres in the northwest part of Olds, just north of the Town of Olds' Operations Centre.
Council passed the bylaw after holding a public hearing on the matter during its Nov. 12 meeting. The bylaw received first reading when it came before council on Oct. 15, setting the stage for the public hearing.
“The town is pleased to work with the team behind the West View Area Structure Plan as they continue to advance their project closer to its initial phases of development,” a town document said.
“The ASP will increase the supply and variety of dwelling options for current and future residents of Olds.”
Municipal land use planner Kyle Sloan told council that the projected population of the development at full build-out is 1,939, an increase of about 40 more residents from the projected population in the 2017 plan.
That’s a density of 18.5 units per hectare.
Sloan noted that the target density for new neighbourhoods in the town’s municipal development plan policy is an average of between 11 to 13 dwelling units per gross developable hectare.
Residential densities that that are above that target are to be encouraged when there’s enough capacity in municipal infrastructure to handle that higher density.
“This administration believes there is capacity in this area. The west side of town is generally where the newer infrastructure is in town and the proposed densities are not a concern for administration,” Sloan said.
He said information regarding the revised plan was circulated to six neighbouring property owners as well as “relevant provincial agencies.”
“No correspondence was received from the property owners,” Sloan said.
“We did have some correspondence from TC Energy which owns a pipeline right-of-way within the area. We maintain contact with them about all of the developments along their right-of-way and they have met with developers directly as well.”
A civil engineer on line told council that a major impetus for the revision to the ASP was also that the Town abandoned a lagoon located just south of the land, so the plan was revised to include a stormwater retention pond adjacent to a lift station in the northwest corner of the neighbourhood.
One person in the gallery, Lyle Statham of Olds, was the lone resident to speak during the public hearing.
He asked how many dwelling units are proposed for the new neighbourhood, when construction is anticipated to begin and where an east-west access road in the development will be.
Sloan said the revised area structure plan calls for 714 dwelling units. He said the area will also include pedestrian and cycling trails.
Sloan said the plan currently calls for access from 70th Avenue with Vista Drive at the southern end of the property continuing east-west, eventually linking up with 70th Avenue, just north of the Operations Centre.
“The early phases of West View are set to begin at the west side. That would be developed first and then Vista Drive would be completed somewhere in the middle,” he said.
A spokesman for the developer said a start date for construction of the new neighbourhood had not yet been determined. The company was waiting for the outcome of the public hearing and passage of the bylaw before making that determination.
Coun. Darren Wilson asked what role council will play as the neighbourhood gets closer to being developed.
Sloan said council’s role going forward would be limited to rezoning.
He said each phase of the development will involve an agreement with the Town of Olds and developer which will include greater details of the plans. Security deposits will also be made.
A couple of councillors raised concerns about stormwater and sewage capacity in light of recent flooding and sewage issues in that area of town.
Coun. Wanda Blatz wanted reassurance that municipal officials and representatives of engineering firms will be inspecting such things like sewer and stormwater infrastructure in the development to ensure it’s capable of handling demand and future weather events.
“The only reason why I’m asking this question is in light of all the issues that we’ve had in the past and I just want to make sure that we are in fact going to be on top of this situation,” she said.
Sloan reiterated his earlier point about each stage of development requiring a development agreement between the developer and the town and the approval of detailed design drawings and engineering, adding that a two-year warranty period kicks in upon completion as well.
Coun. James Cummings repeated a concern he raised Oct. 15 that the area had been flooded with sewage several times over the past few years.
“I know we’re doing a lot of work to mitigate that if that happens again, but it’s a concern I have,” he said.
Infrastructure director Adrian Pedro said that issue will be addressed as detailed drawings are provided.
A spokesman for the developer, listed as Indus Homes of Calgary, sympathized with the concerns raised about previous sewage and flooding events in the area.
He said the new location of the sewage lift station and will help solve that problem because “the natural topography of the land kind of goes out to that lift station.”
“In my opinion, the sooner we get in there, it’s actually best, because then you’re capturing the water into the stormwater management and you’re releasing it down, right, at the far south end of the property.”
He said as a result, “I would say things will get better.”
Wilson asked the developer to give a history of their company and any developments they’ve done in the province – rural or urban – that might be similar to the West View plan. However, mayor Judy Dahl said that question wasn’t relevant to the public hearing.
