Sturgeon county councillors were concerned about two proposed subdivisions last week due to cows and the Capital Regional Board.
Council voted 4-2 in favour of second reading last week for a series of motions authorizing the proposed Green Hennessy subdivision. Couns. Karen Shaw and Tom Flynn opposed the motions. Mayor Don Rigney was absent from the vote.
Council also voted 6-1 in favour of second reading for motions related to the Estates of Tuscany subdivision, with Shaw opposed.
The Capital Region Board (CRB) must approve these proposals before they can proceed to third reading.
Project poo-pooed
Green Hennessy is a 26-hectare 58-lot subdivision proposed for construction around the current site of Peas On Earth farm. If approved, this subdivision would be next to the Crozier Dairy, which has been in operation since about 1898 and which occasionally spreads manure on its fields.
Green Hennessy would be built right next to the dairy's manure storage lagoon, said Randy Bjorklund, an approval officer with the Natural Resources Conservation Board in Morinville, and current residents already complain about the farm's smell.
"Our inspectors will have a huge increase in complaints" if this subdivision was approved, he predicted.
Bill Minnes, lead consultant on the Green Hennessy project, said he had met several times with the Croziers who had told him they planned to leave the dairy industry.
"We believe we can slide into this area as they consider their transition out," he said.
In an interview, dairy co-owner Les Crozier said that the Croziers know they will have to get out of dairy farming as homes move into their neighbourhood, but in a few decades, not a few years as this project's timeline has proposed. Density targets set by the CRB for the region are so low that they make it impossible for developers to turn a profit, he said, and until this changes, his family will not be able to sell their land to one.
He also questioned whether the developers appreciated how the smell of manure could affect this project.
"Green Hennessy is on our fence-line," he said. "It may be hard for them to sell their lots."
Flynn said he would be more willing to support this subdivision if it were not so close to the dairy.
"Right now I really have great difficulty in supporting this," he said.
The proposal now goes before the CRB for approval.
Tuscany crunch
Density targets had councillors wringing their hands over the proposed Estates of Tuscany subdivision — a 30-hectare 78-lot project that, if built, would abut the Sturgeon Heights, North Point and Tuscany Hills neighbourhoods.
Rigney noted that this development would feature 2.6 dwellings per hectare, which was above the CRB's maximum density target for the region of two per hectare. Edmonton has a veto on the board, and would likely use it to stop this development unless this changed.
"If they say no, we're back to square one," he said.
Those targets are pretty vague and apply to the entire Sturgeon Valley, said planning and development manager Collin Steffes. Staff believed this development could meet the board's target if seen in the context of the valley as a whole.
But that would mean taking density away from future subdivisions without their consent, Flynn said, which would put the county at risk of lawsuits.
"I think we'd best breathe easy for a bit," he said, and hold off on this subdivision.
Council voted 6-1 in favour of the proposal, but held off on sending it to the CRB until it received more information from staff at its next meeting.
