Rocky View County (RVC) council has unanimously rejected a land redesignation meant to provide a site for a new high school near Cochrane.
At its May 26 meeting, RVC refused third and final reading of a Public Services District redesignation for property located adjacent to the town’s boundary northeast of Highway 1A and east of Horse Creek Road.
The land is currently unserviced, and according to RVC administration, a connection to the Town’s regional water and wastewater system is unavailable with “no indication” of any potential of future servicing to the site.
“I don’t want to see this site to end up like the site on the south side of town,” said area Councillor Bruce Kendall, referring to Bow Valley High School, which was also built on unserviced County land, forcing the school to truck in water for years.
According to Darrell Couture, associate superintendent of business and operations with Rocky View Schools (RVS), the land is one of few parcels in Cochrane that is “relatively flat” and could be suitable for a high school in the northern part of the town.
“Most of Cochrane is rolling hills, so topography is a large factor for us,” he said. “Also, there will be a large population right there with servicing right across the street, so we are hoping to be able to tie into those services, which will hopefully be available by the time we need to host the new school.”
Couture said that depending on growth within the community, the school may not be built for eight to 10 years. The land redesignation is just a necessary step in order to prepare for a future need.
“Last time (with Bow Valley), we got approval to build a high school but didn’t have a site to build it on, and we don’t want to be in that position again,” Couture said. “It’s not really fair to the students of Cochrane.”
At a recent board meeting, Couture said RVS decided to go ahead and purchase the quarter section of land, eliminating the need for County approval for a subdivision.
“Hopefully within 10 years we will have this land for the new high school, and we can then decide what to do with the remaining balance of land,” Couture said. “In the long run, we will hopefully achieve the same end result – this will just take us a little longer to get there.”
Kendall’s motion to refuse the redesignation passed unanimously, and Deputy Reeve Lois Habberfield suggested additional measures to hopefully avoid similar situations in the future.
“If (RVS) wants to build within (RVC), I think they have to take on the costs of building roads and putting infrastructure in like any other developer,” she said. “We need to come to an agreement of what is an appropriate school reserve size and somehow work with our partners so that schools are provided adequate sites but within their urban jurisdictions, or at least where there is servicing in (RVC).”
