Rocky View County (RVC) election candidates were in the hot seat on Oct. 2 as they informed residents where they stand on heated County issues such as debt, emergency services, effects of development, agriculture and seniors services.
Sixteen of the 20 candidates running were present at the forum hosted by Action for Agriculture at the Golden Rod Hall from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. All Division 5 candidates – Earl Solberg, Bob Gaidhar and Jerry Gautreau - were absent, as well as Division 6 incumbent Greg Boehlke.
Candidates were given five minutes to introduce themselves and answer several questions provided by Action for Agriculture.
Debt
A question from a Springbank resident, who was in the audience, about candidate’s stance on the County’s current $66 million in debt rooted in building water and wastewater infrastructure in East Balzac sparked debate among candidates.
Ten-year Balzac Councillor Lois Habberfield said the council-of-the-day’s decision to diversify the County’s tax base with commercial and industrial development has been “a success story.”
“It’s ridiculous to say this has been a failure. The economic development in East Balzac is not a folly. It is generating more and more taxes every year, more and more levies are coming in,” she added.
Division 2 candidate Cindy Turner said the debt has created an asset that will continue to be beneficial to the County.
“The debt is there, it’s being controlled, it’s being paid, it’s accomplished what it’s intended to accomplish and I can hardly wait for the day it’s paid down,” said Division 4 Councillor and Reeve Rolly Ashdown.
Ashdown’s opponent, Gerard Lucyshyn disagreed.
“Debt was taken on as a huge gamble... we gambled wrong and now we have this huge debt we have to pay down. Having the taxpayers pay down the debt is totally unacceptable. We need to use this tax diversification strategy to pay it off,” he said.
Agriculture
Candidates unanimously agreed on an answer to a question asked by Action for Agriculture about the importance of agriculture in RVC.
“I think we’d be foolish to admit that agriculture isn’t the dominant force in RVC. Currently its about 92 per cent (of the land base) and out of (the County’s) million acres, that’s a lot of acres. Across Canada it’s a huge economic generator. The only problem we have with agriculture is it only contributes abut two per cent of the tax base to RVC,” said Division 9 candidate Bruce Kendall.
Current councillors Lois Habberfield and Al Sacuta both said agriculture is important and should be preserved, but some land isn’t suitable for agriculture production and should be considered for proper kinds of development.
“I do value farmlands in the province, but how long we can protect it here in RVC is questionable because the encroachment of residential development that has a negative impact on the ability to farm. In the future, farms will get bigger and equipment will get bigger,” said Habberfield.
“The tough thing to do in areas where agriculture is not suitable is to figure out what that development is going to look like,” said Sacuta, Division 8 incumbent.
County Plan
Leading the debate about RVS’s future landscape, candidates were asked about their stance on the recently-approved County Plan and it’s growth target of 2.5 to three per cent of the region’s growth over the next decade.
Several candidates, including Margaret Bahcheli, Ashdown and Liz Breakey said they are supportive of the County Plan and growth will be dictated by the market.
“It’s a regional growth number. It (the 2.5 to three per cent figure) reads badly as though we’ve capped growth: absolutely not. What it does is it links to the economy and makes it very market-facing and very demand focus. If Calgary booms, then RVC booms. If the demand’s up, we’re there for you and if the demand’s down, we’re going to plan for that,” said Bahcheli.
Division 6 candidate John McMurray said 2.5 to three percent should be a growth limit and not a goal.
“We shouldn’t try to be encouraging more growth if it doesn’t meet that. We know residential development is a money-losing business because it costs more to provide services than it brings in,” he said.
Norman Kent, one of the three candidates running in Division 9 said growth is inevitable in RVC.
“We’re right beside one of the largest-growing cities in Canada and in North America. The development pressure is immense. But we can take control of the type of development. We need smart development and to look more at conservation planning,” he said.
Water/Wastewater
A final question asked by Action for Agriculture was if candidates thought developers should be required to show proof they have water for a development before receiving approval for land use from council.
“Not only should they prove (they have) water, but also the quantity and quality should be proved. Water is blue gold,” said Cameron Wallace.
Several candidates said it depended on the type of application.
“Obviously if it’s a small first parcel-out or a farmer trying to re-subdivide his land, there’s a less-need to have a detailed engineering report of water supply,” said Sacuta.
Division 2 candidate Jerry Arshinoff said “common sense and reasonableness has to be used.”
“Application for large developments should definitely have written proof of water. Also, they should have a detailed report of other possible effects such as stormwater runoff, traffic, noise and written report of the conceivable effects to the residents of the neighbourhood and what can be done to reduce that,” he added.
Emergency Services
A resident from Langdon in the audience asked what future council members plan to do about emergency services with the projected growing population.
Al Sacuta said the most important first step is for RVC to hire professional administration staff to advise council on fire services.
“We need to hire a general manager of fire services. We don’t have that at the County - we have nobody with professional qualification staffing to understand what fire is about. I’m not a firefighter. We need to hire a fire chief. Once we get that in place, I think we will have effective and affordable fire services,” he said.
More than 60 residents attended the debate which ran past 9:30 p.m.
