Rocky View County (RVC) council took a step towards developing a permanent method of managing water levels in Cochrane Lake at the regular meeting on June 10.
Council directed administration to prepare a Local Improvement Tax (LIT) and offsite levy to be sent out to the property owners within the Cochrane Lake development for their approval.
The permanent solution suggested by administration would see water pumped through a pipeline into Horse Creek.
The total figure includes repairs to the trail around the lake, which is currently submerged in water, as well as repairs and upgrades to a recirculation system that would control the quality and discharge rate of the water being pumped into Horse Creek.
In the report presented to council, Manager of Corporate Services Kent Robinson said based on preferences expressed by local residents, administration suggested a 30-year amortization period for the LIT.
Based on a calculation of 381 properties being subject to the LIT, the average lot payment per month including interest over 30 years would be $7.04. The LIT is expected to recover $588,650 of the total cost, and an additional $173,712 through general tax revenue as County-owned land within the development is also subject to the LIT.
However, Councillor Lois Habberfield made a friendly amendment to suggest to residents a reduced length for the payment of the tax to 15 years. Council unanimously voted in favour.
Robinson said a new report with suggested monthly rates will be calculated and sent to residents.
He said residents will have one month to formally petition against the LIT if they are in opposition.
If approved, a development levy would also apply to the Monterra land at Cochrane Lake that is yet to be developed. Administration calculated the levy would recoup $911,350.
The amount would be fronted by RVC and recouped as development occurred, which caused concern for many councillors.
“I’m a little bit worried that we’ll be left with the bill for the development levy… so we’re going to carry that plus the amount for the LIT that we’re on the hook for,” said Habberfield.
In August of 2012, Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (AESRD) ordered the developer, Jeff Colvin, and Regional Water Services (RWS), which provides treated water and sewer to the Monterra community, to lower the water levels of Cochrane Lake due to flooding of nearby homes.
However, the County has been forced to do so at a cost of about $350,000 to date, as the developer has not because RWS maintains the requirement to lower lake levels was not included in the water license agreement issued by AESRD.
The water management order is being appealed by RWS and the hearing is set for June 18 and 19 in Edmonton. County Manager of Infrastructure and Operations Byron Riemann said the hearing will determine whether the order was justified, and if it is found otherwise, the hearing will not dictate a permanent solution for the water level problem.
Administration encouraged council to move ahead with the local improvement plan and confirmed that if the hearing resulted in the developer or AESRD being required to fund a permanent solution, the LIT and offsite levy could be abandoned.
“We’ve been round-and-round on this issue with Cochrane Lake for a number of years now, and I don’t think anybody’s really happy with having to fund something that is really a problem between the developer and Alberta Environment… but (the local improvement plan) provides the landowners the opportunity to review the costs and impacts to their property and stop waiting for a solution to come from higher levels of government,” said Area Councillor Bruce Kendall.
Riemann said the LIT could be implemented as early as next year.
