County councillors unanimously approved an $800,000 budget adjustment for the Bragg Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The money will be spent on construction/tender cost overruns on the directional drilling for the plantís collection pipelines, building package and infrastructure.
At its outset, County staff estimated the cost of the project to be $3.5 million, of which $2.5 million has been recovered through grant funding.
The extra money will come out of the General Tax Stabilization Reserve.
County staff will apply to use about $450,000 of surplus grant money from Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding received from the Province for 2011 projects to cover a portion of the overages.
The treatment plant, now nearing completion, is expected to be operational by the end of February.
Council unanimously approved a 10-acre residential subdivision near Conrich.
The land is located about 1.6 kilometres east of the hamlet of Conrich and is owned by Canadian National (CN) Railway.
The 133-acre parent parcel, designated as Ranch and Farm District, is accessed from Township Road 250 and houses a small farm building.
The new acreage will be serviced by a well and private sewage treatment system.
Access to the new parcel will be from Range Road 283, which is currently in poor condition but is scheduled for upgrading this spring.
The 10-acre first-parcel-out is immediately west of the CN Logistics Park, a concern for Councillor Greg Boehlke.
ìWhy do we have a residential area right across from (what will be) a rather noisy commercial area?î asked Boehlke. ìWe are just setting ourselves up for complaints.î
Councillor Lois Habberfield disagreed.
ìIf they want to live next to this, that is up to them,î she said.
Boehlke also raised concern about leaving a Deferred Services Agreement as a condition of subdivision.
The agreement might require the acreage owner to connect to piped water and sewage services in the future, an expensive proposition, according to Boehlke.
Councillor Earl Solberg made a motion to remove the condition, which was unanimously approved by council.
Council unanimously approved a rezoning application to revise a Direct Control District to add new uses and to alter general and development regulations.
The 59-acre commercial parcel, located near the High Plains Industrial Park Conceptual Scheme on the City of Calgary and Rocky View County boundary, currently houses an industrial building and offices.
Originally, the purpose of the district was to house a slaughterhouse and meat-processing facility. The site was inspected in 2010 and was found to be non-compliant as it was being used for offices in conjunction with an unapproved business on the property.
According to the staff report, one of the intentions of the application was to add ìoffice useî to the bylaw, allowing the owners to obtain a development permit to that end.
Several uses were added to the district including accessory buildings, agriculture processing, general industry type one and two, office and warehouse.
Other changes include adding a minimum parcel size of 2.5 acres, a building height maximum of 20 metres and a minimum setback of 15 metres from any property line. According to the staff report, these changes will maintain consistency with land uses in the area and provide more clarity for future development on the property.
Councillor Kim Magnuson was appointed to the Development Appeal Committee (DAB), taking over the position left vacant by the death of former councillor Rick Butler in December.
Magnuson, the only councillor nominated to the committee, will remain in the position until the organizational meeting scheduled for October of this year.
The DAB is made up of three councillors and four Rocky View residents. It hears appeals and makes decisions regarding council decisions.
Council has set this yearís tax sale date for May 4 at 2 p.m.
At that time, 49 parcels in the county, which are in currently in property tax arrears, will be publicly auctioned to help Rocky View collect outstanding taxes.
According to the Municipal Government Act, any land not sold during the auction may become the property of the County.
