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RVC vetos selling Cochrane Ag Society lands

In a motion made as the result of an in-camera discussion Dec.

In a motion made as the result of an in-camera discussion Dec. 13, Rocky View County (RVC) council voted unanimously to terminate a process that would have seen the sale of county land currently leased to the Cochrane and District Agricultural Society (CDAS).

Council voted to explore the sale of the “surplus land” in January, while committing to honouring CDAS’ current lease “in recognition of the Society’s role as a partner in providing recreation opportunities” to county residents, according to a press release issued by RVC.

“We did have some interest in buying those lands, and it didn’t work out,” said RVC Reeve Greg Boehlke, adding the request for proposals and subsequent negotiations resulted in no offers on the land that met with the conditions RVC was willing to accept. “We’ve abandoned this for now, and we’ve decided to just hold onto the land.”

The news came as a surprise to Justin Burwash, president of the CDAS board of directors. According to Burwash, the society has been working to build contingency and planning around a “certain set of outcomes” that included the potential sale of the land. Burwash said the termination of the sale process is “almost a step backward” in planning the long-term future of CDAS.

“From what I understand, this doesn’t necessarily change council’s support for our future – it now puts us in a scenario where we have eight years left of a lease on a piece of land that may or may not fit into the county’s future,” Burwash said. “We are still very committed to moving forward with the consulting work we’ve just started.”

Boehlke said RVC has provided funding to assist CDAS in developing a needs assessment, business case, and facility development strategy. The current lease expires in February 2025, and Burwash said that to be prudent, the society needs to be actively investigating relocation options as they continue with this work.

“Our needs assessment has given us a pretty clear picture as to what our site needs are. Currently, we are in an arena that we find is undersized for the demand we get, and we’ve had to outsource or bring in temporary stabling,” Burwash said.

“We need to be responsible for our current and future demand, and that kind of planning requires longer than eight years.”

According to Boehlke, now that the county has decided to discontinue the sale process, CDAS is “looked after right now.” He added the county may be open to discussing the renewal of the lease in a few years.

Burwash said the CDAS board will meet in the coming weeks to review their options.



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