Bragg Creek residents had the opportunity to find out more about potential amendments to the Area Structure Plan (ASP) at an open house on May 26 at Snowbird Chalet.
According to Rocky View County (RVC) planner Amy Zaluski, the amendments will allow the hamlet to move forward with the Revitalization Plan that was approved by council in December 2015.
“Right now, we have some residential policies in the ASP that are a little bit limiting,” Zaluski said. “A lot of that was tied to water and wastewater servicing, but now that we have that available, we want to get a sense from people of what they’d like to see in the community.”
Currently, Zaluski said, there are limits on the size of lots that can be subdivided and a maximum of 10 units for any overnight accommodation facility. With the community’s feedback, Zaluski said the County can look at changing some of these limits to reflect the priorities of the Revitalization Plan.
“This would allow for a little more density into the hamlet. It’s not a lot, but it would be enough to start getting more folks in here, supporting the businesses and getting together to work on implementing some of the goals in the plan,” she said. “That’s one of the key aspects of this plan, to bring in more population while still keeping with the quiet, small town nature of Bragg Creek. That’s not something anyone wants to lose.”
Area Councillor Liz Breakey said the amendments will allow for things like seniors’ housing and boutique hotels – opening up “worthwhile” opportunities for investors interested in developing within Bragg Creek.
“This will give us some flexibility to do what the community needs to keep people here,” Breakey said. “A lot of these suggestions predate the original ASP for the hamlet, but we couldn’t do it at the time without servicing. This will open up the doors for a variety of housing forms like townhouses, duplexes and overnight accommodation – things people have been asking about for years.”
According to Zaluski, increasing the variety of housing options will help address other issues in Bragg Creek, such as the lack of affordable housing. She said many business owners currently can’t afford to live in Bragg Creek, or have employees who can’t afford it and have to commute from Calgary.
“We are looking at potentially allowing for secondary suites, like a separate basement or garage apartment,” Zaluski said. “We do allow for those on acreages and agricultural parcels, but not in hamlets. But we may consider that as a possible housing option for Bragg Creek.”
The information collected at the open house will be incorporated into the draft amendments, which Zaluski said will be released this summer for public consultation and agency circulation. The amendments will be presented to council for adoption this fall.
“This is piggybacking along with the design guidelines, which was one of the other high priority actions to come out of the Revitalization Plan,” she said. “This will help remove some of the barriers for people who want to come in and do some development.
“We’ve had great turnouts for our open houses here, and people are happy and interested and they want to work with us to make things happen, which is really great to see.”
