Planning for the future

Times Reporter 

 

The Town of Strathmore has been working on a new Municipal Development Plan (MDP) that should help guide Strathmore’s growth for years to come. 

The MDP is being presented to the public during on open house on Jan. 14 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Civic Centre. There will be stations set up where people can talk with the planners and engineers. There will also be a questionnaire that will be done in a passport form.

“Every time you go to one of the stations and you ask a question you get your passport stamped. If you get all five stamps on your passport when you submit it then you’re entered in to a draw,” said Patricia Maloney, a planner with the Town of Strathmore.  

There are six gift bag prizes filled with passes to the Aquatic Centre, Family Centre and much more. 

The new MDP is being created to update the old one, add in lands that were annexed in 2011 and deal with some of the issues not previously addressed.

“For example school sites are a big issue in Strathmore and we need to clearly identify where future school sites are going to be,” said Maloney. 

“What has happened in the past is there have been school site dedicated, but we need to make sure in these new developments that the developer dedicates school sites.”

The sites are provided through the municipality either through reserve dedication or through purchasing school sites. Maloney said one of the exciting things they are looking at is the fact that the Town of Strathmore does own lands south of the highway. 

The land could be a great spot to have a dual high school site, something for both the public and Catholic schools, and then combining that with a major recreational development. The town is in discussion with a group out of Vancouver called Planet Ice, who builds hockey arenas and indoor soccer fields in the lower mainland of B.C. If built adjacent to the high schools, it will also allow the schools to make use of the recreation facilities.  

There has been discussion with Planet Ice about the possibility of leasing the land and having them build a facility. 

Another issue addressed in the MDP is increased density. 

“Before the Town of Strathmore really didn’t have a density for residential development, but as part of the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP) we need to deal with density,” said Maloney.

The CRP wants Strathmore to try an achieve eight to 10 units per acre. This will result in Strathmore seeing smaller lots and multi-lot development. That has been happening over the past few years, with developers applying and asking to go to a 32-foot lot. 

“A lot of people do get upset about that, but at the same time it allows somebody to have a single family house cheaper because it is a smaller lot,” said Maloney. 

Having smaller property lots does not decrease the value of surrounding homes, and the MDP is not suggesting all homes be smaller lot sizes. It is recommending making the lots a variety of sizes. 

Strathmore is fortunate that there is a lot of residential downtown, something that is not seen in many smaller communities. Maloney said the hope is that the downtown policies encourage more residential downtown, which will hopefully help revitalize the area. 

“The more residential, the more people downtown. The more people that want to use the downtown 24 hours a day the more businesses will open and it will become more vital downtown,” said Maloney. 

The MDP also mentions allowing secondary suites throughout most of the residential districts. 

Maloney said that is where a lot of controversy will come in, because people will say they don’t want secondary suite because there will be too much traffic, parking issues and other concerns. 

“One of the things we’re trying to ensure is the secondary suites are developed properly,” said Maloney. 

“We’re not just talking about somebody just renting out their basement, we’re talking about a secondary suite that’s registered, meets the fire codes and they have an additional parking spot onsite for those people.”

Secondary suites help homeowners with their mortgage and it generally provides more affordable housing options to people. 

“Affordable housing is an issue in Strathmore oddly enough. Rental housing is quite expensive,” said Maloney. 

According to Maloney she found a two bedroom condo was renting for $1,600 a month and a three bedroom half duplex was renting for $1,750, which are higher than some Calgary prices. Affordable housing is going to continue to be an issue in Strathmore.

“We’re really trying to be conscious of having a town where anybody could come and live and work there,” said Maloney. 

It may not always be possible to convert an existing house to have a secondary suite, but when houses are being built the town is trying to make sure they are done with higher roofs and larger windows in the basement, so they can be converted in the future. The main thing with a secondary suite is making sure it meets fire codes and building codes. 

There have been a number of Area Structure Plans brought forward for a large portion of the annexed lands but there are still 10 quarter sections of land that don’t have long range planning done on them. The MDP will outline what those future uses will be for those areas and then the developers can come in and do their plans accordingly. 

“We do really need to have people’s comments on this. This is their town and we want them to tell us what they like and what they don’t like,” said Maloney. 

Any changes brought up at the open house will be incorporated into the MDP before it is brought to council for first reading.