“It’s hand-over-the keys-week, but there’s still a lot of work to do before the sixth,” said chief financial officer for the Stoney Nation Su-hin Chee, referring to the date for the Stoney Nakoda Resort and Casino’s open house for Stoneys only. The facility will be open to the public June 10, and on June 20 a VIP gala event will take place.
“There’s always a lot of last-minute panic,” said Chee. “It’s like a restaurant makeover show on TV. There’s so much to do at the last minute.”
The $65 million project will ultimately comprise 90 hotel rooms, meeting rooms, a 345-seat restaurant, a bar, and a casino housing 300 slot machines and 15 gaming tables. The hotel and spa phase of the project is set to open this fall.
“Right now, we’re paving the parking lot but the rain hasn’t helped,” said Chee.
The restaurant, bar and casino will employ approximately 200 people with a further 22 to be employed by the Mini Thni Charity Foundation that’s been set up to channel profits into charities such as Morley’s women’s shelter.
But not everyone is excited about having a casino in the area.
Anne (not her real name) is a recovering gambler who now speaks about addictions to students and other Calgary groups.
“The casino is taking money out of our community and (in extreme cases) the results will include prison, suicide and insanity,” she said.
Anne admits however that there could be some positive aspects from having another employer in the community.
“Yes, some employees will gain skills and confidence by working,” she said. “But is that the best choice for that land? There are other entertainment or recreational businesses that wouldn’t have such a destructive edge for families and communities.”
Len Vadeboncoeur, gaming manager at the casino, said there are many avenues of help for problem gamblers.
“We offer a self-exclusion program for people,” he said, which is designed for people who feel it’s best to not gamble for a specific time. After filling out a form, voluntary self-exclusion cannot be revoked and the gambler will be refused access to the casino.

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Alex Baum, co-owner of Cochrane Dodge, had planned to move his downtown business and also construct a Toyota dealership on the site across from St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Now, five years into the process, Baum said he has been blindsided by council and the project may be cancelled.
On May 26, council approved an application by John Robinson to subdivide a 25-acre site on River Heights Drive into six parcels. But in doing so, they added a condition that to move forward with the project, the developer must provide 2.5 acres to the town in municipal reserve.
“Based on what they want, we can’t do it up there. What they have done has basically taken us out of the loop,” Baum said after the meeting.
It’s been five years since Baum started the process to move his business from the corner of Fifth Avenue and Railway Street. In that time, part of Robinson’s land has been redesignated as highway commercial, while stripping and grading was approved and designs drawn up.
Baum said plans were created around no municipal reserve and the developer has made numerous concessions to assist the town, like building and widening a road through the site.
“It would have been really, really nice to know that they were going to put these conditions on us ahead of time and now it looks like they want something we can’t deliver, so it’s put us in a position of ultimatum,” Baum said.
Coun. Ivan Davies made the amendment for municipal reserve, saying the town didn’t need money — $99,600 was offered as cash-in-lieu — but does need land.
“It’s not that I am trying to step in the way of any development whatsoever,” Davies said. “I am just trying to look after the town’s best interest and 2.5 acres would serve the town a lot better than $99,600.”
Although administration recommended taking the money, council unanimously approved the amendment, even after Robinson told them the “whole economics of the project will be in limbo” if that decision was made.
“To take 2.5 acres of developable land out of that project would throw a monkey wrench into that whole project,” he said.
Even with those forceful words, council’s resolve was strong.
“Cash-in-lieu just doesn’t do it for me and the people of Cochrane can do much more with the land,” said Coun. Tara McFadden during discussion of the amendment.
As the meeting closed, there was sentiment among some councillors who said the entire project shouldn’t be stopped over 2.5 acres.
Coun. Brenda Sine said a mutual agreement needs to be reached, wherein a mix of land and cash can be exchanged to meet the municipal reserve requirement.

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“We did all right this time,” said Tim of the Bottrell Store, a landmark north of Cochrane that’s been used as a meeting place for farmers and ranchers. “It didn’t even flood the creek. But we’ve seen this so many times, we almost know how far away we are from being flooded.”
The two run the store as well as manage the Dog Pound Creek campground for the M.D. of Rocky View. Tim said the campground accounts for approximately 90 per cent of their income.
But despite escaping a flood this time, the brothers are still suffering from the June 2005 deluge that almost caused their building’s basement to cave in. At the time they appealed to an emergency relief fund, and even looked to then-premier Ralph Klein.
“They did absolutely nothing,” said Tim. “They shuffled papers but we’re in exactly the same position now as far as the foundation goes.”
In addition, Tim claimed Rocky View caused his business more harm by persuading Duane to replace an existing water-damaged bridge with a walking bridge that is too narrow to accommodate vehicles needed to pump out portable toilets. As a result, Tim said, the toilets had to be removed, and since campers and trailers may no longer cross the narrow bridge, the result is that the north side of the campground is populated entirely by tenters, mostly teenagers.
“So the whole dynamics of the park has changed,” said Tim referring to the 100 or so youth that swarmed the campground over the May long weekend. “Twenty kids come up to camp but then they text 400 more — not to camp but to party. Only a third pay me any money. I see them roaring out of there before I’m up in the morning.”
Closer to town, Alberta Environment placed a flood watch advisory on Jumping Pound Creek, but Cochrane waded through almost unscathed.
Ian Smith, director of community and protective services, said May 26 that the town was prepared for a flood that didn’t happen.
“We had staff here and we would be ready to evacuate people out of Bow Meadows if we had to,” he said.
Portions of the pathway system in Bow Meadows was under water and subsequently closed.
According to Alberta Environment, water levels on the Jumping Pound Creek peaked Sunday morning. The creek’s ranger station recorded total precipitation of more than 100 mm from May 22 to May 26.

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Now, there’s nothing wrong with a fella having a girlfriend with ties to questionable organizations. I dare say, historically, more than a few federal Tories have had girlfriends with ties to the Liberals so that’s no big deal.
But now it appears the whole affair is much more serious because of a potential security breach.
It seems Bernier took some classified papers with him to this lady’s abode and forgot them there.
Like you, I can only guess what must have distracted him to the extent that he would forget the papers when he left.
But apparently he did.
Perhaps the question is not so much why he forgot the papers, but why and how could he take them?
Does this mean that every security document in Ottawa could be taken to a residence?
The security breach is not that Bernier left them at this home, but that he removed them from a secure government office in the first place.
Or did he?
Now the intrigue.
Bernier was in hot water with the prime minister and it’s a quaint Canadian political tradition that every cabinet minister, upon appointment, submits a letter of resignation to the PM that can be used at anytime without question.
Like other cabinet ministers Bernier’s letter was on file so the PM used it and he’s gone.
But is the story of security documents left in a home a red herring?
Is that the excuse needed and used?
Is Bernier really that dumb?
There’s no question the Tories are praying the whole affair dies a quiet death now that the minister has fallen on his sword.
Except I don’t believe for a moment the Opposition will leave it there.
There’s much more to this story yet, and I only hope we don’t have to wait until the Penguins win the Stanley Cup to hear it all. (more…)

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Morton cited Springbank, where the population is spread over vast areas, as “just not a sustainable pattern.”
“If you are going to develop a section, cluster the residential on a third of it and provide conservation easements for the rest,” the minister said.
Under the previous planning structure, Rick Butler, executive director of the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP), said 125,000 hectares, or more than 310,000 acres, would have been needed to house the future influx of new residents in the Calgary region alone. Under the CRP’s planning measures, this number would be cut in half.
“It’s trying to change the trend which is more urban sprawl, a large ecological footprint. It’s all about intensification, densification of the next 1.7 million residents coming to the region,” Butler said.
Hopeton Louden, Rocky View councillor for the Bearspaw area, said the land-use framework addresses a burning question regarding development of farmland.
For years, developments near Calgary have swallowed up productive farm and ranch land. Those days may be over, as the framework states that “reducing the fragmentation and conversion of agricultural land is a provincial priority.”
“For all of us, not just Bearspaw, there is a sense about how we use the land — we need to address that. Whether you are in an oil company, a recreational personal or someone involved in fisheries, all of us have to look at how we us the land,” Louden said.
Portions of agricultural land will be deemed non-developable and the framework proposes different ways of compensating landowners.
These plans come as no surprise to Mayor Truper McBride, who said the town was already moving in this direction on its own accord. Due to the framework’s mandate and CRP’s land-use plan, McBride said Cochrane will continue to exist in the future as a separate entity from Calgary.
“If we stayed the same way we are growing right now and didn’t have these changes that our new Municipal Development Plan is moving forward, with 150,000 people Cochrane would be enormous . . . it would be a continuous urban overlay to Calgary,” the mayor said.
“The new density levels we are looking at would not see us growing tremendously to the east, there wouldn’t be tremendous growth to the south. What you will see is the growth of Cochrane up to Highway 567 and not much beyond that,” McBride said.
Rocky View is already changing, said Coun. Mitch Yurchak, Spring-bank’s representative. When council receives development plans, the documents are closely scrutinized. Yurchak said this has already created a situation that is close to Morton’s plan.
“The traditional way we do our acreage lots will change and the focus will be on preserving green space, open space and agricultural land,” Yurchak said.
Although he hoped the framework would contain more specific guidelines, Yurchak said there is no need to wait for it to be enacted.
“It would be prudent to begin making these changes now,” he said.
Another aspect of the framework is the provincial and regional authority will set guidelines and targets for local governments to follow. This may change how, and what, decisions are made, Morton said.
“The actual decision-making for land-use decision, zoning and so forth will stay with the local towns, cities and M.D.s, but those decisions will have to be consistent with the land-use plan developed for that region,” Morton said.
With the province divided into six regions by watersheds, Cochrane and the Rocky View sit in the south region. A metropolitan region will be established for Calgary and it’s surrounding area, with the area west of Calgary put into a sub-region to focus more closely on local issues.
Butler said this decision “really empowers the Calgary Regional Partnership” by potentially giving the previously-volunteer organization binding power with its decisions.
Lisa Fox, an environmentalist who focuses on watershed management, said the decisions in the framework are a victory for environmental groups.
“The voices around the table that are working in watershed planning and regional planning have been given a shot in the arm. Now we have an actual structure to relate to and work within, rather than the polarizing entities,” Fox said.
Public consultation will follow with the goal of implementing segments of the framework by 2010 and 2012.

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“Basically, they’d be expanding a siding so at that point another train could get past, or pass going the other direction on the reserve,” said Stoney chief operating officer Su-Hin Chee. “It’s a job that CP Rail is keen to do.”
Chee said at this point he had no idea what the cost would be.
“We’re just at the negotiation stage. They’re looking at what kind of compensation package would be offered.”

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“We’ve never done this before, but we’re having a block party,” said lodge spokesperson Sandra Robin. She added the theme of this year’s Seniors’ Week is Building a Strong Alberta.
“But I’ve changed it to Building a Strong Community,” Robin said.
All the residents on either side and across the street from the lodge have been invited to enjoy beef on a bun June 8 from noon until 2 p.m. All have been asked to contribute a dessert to help out.
“We’ve had no response yet and it might not work but it’s worth a try,” said Robin. “We need to get to know our neighbours, and we know if there ever was an emergency they’d be first to help us, so we want to reach out to them in this way.”
Other Seniors’ Week events at the lodge include a dinner party June 6, and on June 3 the fire department and EMS crew is coming to serve lunch to the lodge residents.
“I asked them to send the best-looking ones,” chuckled Robin.

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Hosted by Family and Community Support Services (FCSS), the annual tea will include a Powerpoint presentation featuring local notable seniors in the area, as well as an FCSS talk about sustainability entitled My Dream for Cochrane.
Bow Valley High School and Cochrane High School students will provide the entertainment, and St. Timothy High School students will act as greeters. Local home schoolers will serve refreshments.
According to planner Candy Weisner, the town’s recreation department will then lead the seniors in some chair exercises.
“And everyone will go home with a little something,” she said.
The event will run from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m.
“It’s going to be a very nice afternoon,” said Weisner.

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The River Heights area structure plan (ASP) was put to public comment by town council, and councillors heard many arguments, ranging from concerns about the development of escarpment, to sustainable development practices and the location of certain uses.
At the same public hearing, the merits of closing a section of undeveloped road allowance was discussed.
Carl Glaser, a Cochrane resident and an owner of 20 acres in the ASP, told council that under the current land-use designation, his property is categorized as green space and is ultimately worthless.
“The fact that most of my land is perfectly developable and stable is backed up by a geotechnical report,” Glaser said, and yet the town is proposing to not allow development on escarpment over a 15 per cent grade.
Glaser also took issue with the town’s topographical map, which he contends is not accurate. He added the proposed Municipal Development Plan is contradictory in saying escarpment shall not be developed, while at the same time states land be used efficiently.
The ASP is a planning document directing the development on 425 hectares, or 1,050 acres, of property south of the Bow River and east of Highway 22.
The bulk of the site is residential, with pockets of local commercial, industrial and highway commercial. The ASP also calls for three potential school sites and large areas of green space. The area includes the Girl Guides’ Camp Jubilee which hugs the south bank of the Bow River.
Ron Slater, an engineer and planner, criticized the 15 per cent escarpment rule. He said the town is neglecting science with this clause which he said would freeze valuable, usable land.
After being involved in the development of sensitive areas in Seattle, Wash., Slater said the town should work with builders and the community to design the optimum plan.
Dan Cunin, a Cochrane resident, told council plans for future developments need to include transit provisions and be more “forward-thinking.”
“There’s a lack of proper planning and I urge council to delay passing or making any long-term decision in light of the current provincial announcement of forming a regional planning partnership, and the transportation and environmental implications that might come with,” Cunin said.
Tim Giese, president of the Cochrane Environmental Action Committee, said he sees an opportunity to improve the town’s environmental plans.
“We are concerned there are no hydro-geology reports, any possibility of connectability between those ponds and the one pond that will be protected at this point,” Giese said.
He also called for the town to do a complete survey of the area to locate and potentially save wetlands.

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