Rocky View County council approved a subdivision for phase one of the Fulton Industrial Park subdivision application that was turned down in February, on March 11.
Councillors met with County administration and a spokesperson for the development to talk about the changing dynamics of the development, located outside the hamlet of Indus.
“(The plans) are a deviation from the original conceptual schemes,” Councillor for Division 8 Al Sacuta said. “(This development) is starting to look more dense and incrementally we’re taking this from a low-density (development) to a high-density (development).”
Sacuta was referring to conceptual scheme diagram presented to council, which showed lot sizes in the 2.5-acre range – a lot size much smaller than the anticipated 2.5- to 100-acre lots sizes.
Phase one of the project - which has not yet begun construction but has 30 lots sold - will cover about 60 acres of land with seven industrial lots ranging in size from three to 10 acres, one public utility lot and one municipal reserve. The configuration of the proposed road within the park and lot sizes remain the same as the original application.
Phase one of the initial application was denied by council, Feb. 5, although the land redesignation and conceptual scheme had been approved by council in 2010.
The February application proposed a phase one development on 186 acres of land east of Indus to include 37 industrial lots, two public utility lots and two municipal reserve lots. At final buildout the park was expected to cover 525 acres.
Councillors Liz Breakey, Kim Magnuson, Margaret Bahcheli and Al Sacuta voted against the approval at the time, expressing concerns about limited servicing in the area, which would require water cisterns and wastewater pump-out tanks; stormwater infrastructure; the use of municipal reserve land; residents’ concerns about road safety and the current proposal being different from the conceptual scheme.
Ben Mercer, member of planning and development resources with the County, confirmed the lots are consistent with the conceptual scheme and the industrial activity land use district.
Bradford Chorley, Calgary contact for Resland Development Group - the developer with the project, said the application’s original MSSP (Master Site Subdivision Plan) was based on early estimates for the development.
“The MSSP was a process that we used early on,” Chorley explained. “In the end, it didn’t work with what Rocky View County wanted.”
Chorley explained that the lot sizes ranged from 2.5 acres to 100 acres and “the last thing we want to do is to make the lot size 2.5 acres,” he said.
“The people that (want to buy lots in Fulton) are looking for larger lot sizes,” Chorley said.
“We’ve drawn the map with smaller lot sizes than originally planned to develop to show what it could look like… The average buyer is an owner/user buyer.”
Chorley explained the 30 lots that have already been sold range between 12 and 15 acres.
RVC received a letter in opposition of the development from Neil Mason, who emailed his concerns with the development.
“Am trying to understand this process and where it is,” he wrote. “I was under the understanding that they had permission to go ahead with 15 lots or so and go ahead and build, this would be their test case, or benchmark … This process is difficult to understand for most of us out here, unless you are in the development business.”
Chorley explained to council that he had scheduled a meeting with Mason on March 13, the outcome of that meeting was unknown as of press time.
Council unanimously approved the subdivision application with conditions including sprinkler inspections for new homes and the development of a Lot Owners Association.
For more information visit www.rockyview.ca
