A Sundre resident who also owns a property adjacent to a proposed medicinal cannabis production facility in Clearwater County was among dozens of people who recently voiced concerns during a packed public hearing.
Aspen Muraski said during a phone interview that she is not even remotely opposed to the type of development proposed. However, the location — former agricultural land southeast of Caroline about a kilometre north from Highway 587 and immediately west of Highway 22 — is not suitable, she said.
“This is a wetland,” said Muraski, expressing worries about the potential impact not only on wildlife populations such as moose, elk and fowl, but also the underlying aquifer as well as increased traffic and reduced neighbouring property values.
“I’m very concerned about the water.”
The project proposed by Element GP Inc. outlines potential plans for a cannabis production facility that would initially start with a first phase of 55,000 square feet with the potential for future expansions increasing the footprint up to more than 400,000 square feet. Visit www.element-cg.com for more on the company and its proposed project.
That type of facility should be situated on a property that is already designated for industrial development, such as, for example, somewhere closer to Caroline or even Sundre — which both have available industrial parcels — as opposed to agricultural land that doubles as wildlife habitat, Muraski said.
“It’s not an appropriate location,” she said.
“There’s a whole bunch of other options.”
Despite the full house with about 50 members of the community who essentially voiced unanimous opposition to the zoning change, Clearwater County council unanimously proceeded to carry a motion to re-designate the approximately 40-acre parcel of land to light industrial from agricultural following a roughly three and a half hour meeting on Tuesday, July 24 in Rocky Mountain House at council’s chambers.
Although the size and location of the proposed facility were among the primary concerns, arguably the top issue was the potential impact on water, said Muraski, adding the figures made available by Element during the public hearing outlined plans to use 13,200 gallons of water per day.
“That’s their number — that is an incredible volume. That is everybody’s main concern.”
Above and beyond the roughly 20 people who took turns addressing council with their concerns, numerous letters of opposition were also submitted, she said.
“They have no support — I’m not sure how council could move forward with such opposition.”
When asked whether she had any thoughts to share with Clearwater County council, Muraski said, “The residents collectively feel that you’ve let us down — how can you move forward with 100 per cent opposition and alternative locations available?”
Murray Hagan, director of corporate services and acting chief administrative officer, attended the meeting and was pleased to see such a big turnout.
“The house was full,” he said during a phone interview.
“There was a lot of participation from the members of the public who attended…(and) a lot of opportunity for people to share concerns. We appreciated the passion with which they spoke.”
He said the hearing process panned out respectfully and appropriately offering everyone who wanted a chance to speak. However, he said a few people spoke out very vocally regarding their disagreement following council’s decision.
But the land zone change does not mean the project has been granted the green light — the next part of the process involves reviewing a subdivision application as well as a development permit, he added.
“Both will be heard by the municipal planning commission,” he said.
“The project has not been approved, just the re-designation of the land.”
He said council has the utmost confidence in the remaining steps in the process that will provide an opportunity to further explore in much greater detail concerns raised by the community.
“Element has done one level of water testing, and they know more detailed test results will be needed.”
Responding to concerns brought up about Clearwater County’s land use bylaw that was just recently amended to among other changes include a restriction barring major projects from being developed within 300 metres of a neighbouring property, Hagan said it comes down to the interpretation of the rules.
The reference of the 300-metre setback is regarding a distance to the boundary of a property — not necessarily a physical residence or structure. When considering a quarter section, one comes up to a boundary line much before getting near any buildings, he said.
“That’s the key issue. Even though the wording of the bylaw speaks to the boundary, council considered how far the residents actually were. In this case, council was comfortable approving this,” he said, adding no homes or structures come within 150 metres of the proposed project, just property boundaries.
Marianne Cole, who lives northeast of Rocky Mountain House and is also the president of the Clearwater County Taxpayers Association, attended the hearing and said everyone raised their hands when she asked how many people were opposed.
“I saw no one raise their hand in favour,” she said.
Cole added she was confused by the course of action taken by council, which had approved an updated land use bylaw in March in anticipation of such projects. She feels the decision to rezone the land goes against their own bylaw.
“They have the opportunity to stop that and place it specifically in an industrial area,” she said about the proposal.
While there remains the possibility for council to decline the proposed project in the upcoming subdivision and development permit application process, she said the plug should be pulled sooner rather than later to avoid putting people through further turmoil.
Additionally, if approved in the long run, Cole said she was also worried about council setting a precedent.
“It opens the door to other similar proposals. If you allow one, will you allow others?”
