Crossfield is destined to expand as another large developer eyes the town, according to the Town’s Chief Administrative Officer Ken Bosman.
Creative Communities, a development company run by Gobi Singh, the former CEO of Genesis Land Developments, is preparing an area structure plan (ASP) for an initial development of 70 to 100 lots in a quarter section of land north of the Dream Development and west of Iron Landing.
Bosman said this type of development process is typical in economic hardship as “smart money” goes bargain hunting for fair priced underdeveloped land.
With the approximate completion of Stoney Trail and recent development policies in the City of Calgary, he noted developers have started to look elsewhere in the province.
“(All these factors) are driving development to the exurbs (commuter towns) around Calgary,” he said. “Crossfield was well positioned to take advantage of that and we are.”
Once the ASP is presented to council, it is given first reading and a process of community outreach and public engagement begins, Bosman said.
The Municipal Government Act requires Crossfield hold only one public hearing on the matter, but Bosman said the Town has a policy to get as much feedback from its citizens as possible by holding as many public hearings and open houses as the public wants.
“We go way beyond (what is required),” Bosman said. “We’ll have as many… as we need until we know there is a legitimate answer for every question.
“Based on that feedback, council goes forward (with the ASP) or they don’t.”
With the Dream Development, it took the council three months, four weeks and one day to move the project from ASP – which passed at the June 16, 2015, council meeting – to sub-division approval. According to Bosman, that pace was a Town record.
Council will work through the steps with Creative Communities as quickly possible, he said, as long as it’s consistent with “fully and absolutely” protecting the interests of the citizens of Crossfield and consistent with an open, transparent, comprehensive and inclusive public consultation process.
“We don’t go fast simply to go fast,” he said. “We go as fast as we can while still doing everything we need to do.”
Creative Communities is still “a handful of months” away from presenting an ASP to Crossfield council, Bosman added.
Between the Dream Development and Iron Landing developments, there are registered land titles for 119 lots, meaning they are “more or less on the market” Bosman said, with an additional 135 lots advanced enough to release as the market demands.
To accommodate the rapid growth the town will experience, Bosman said council has put necessary steps in place to expand infrastructure including the sewer capacity, building a new fire hall as well as a new library.
“That’s why we’re reworking our budget internally as aggressively as we are, to make it so we have the infrastructure we need without increasing taxes,” he said.
