Gas station-restaurant refusal leads to CMRB test case

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

Wheatland County has refused an application to build a gas station and restaurant in the Wheatland industrial area, saying the area service plan would have to be revised to accommodate restaurant designations.
“The WH1ASP (Wheatland Industrial 1 Area Service Plan) falls within the CMRB (Calgary Metropolitan Region Board). If the WH1ASP should go forward with it, we recommend it should be amended, and it would have to go to the CMRB for review,” said Megan Williams, intermediate planner with Wheatland County
She said under current parameters, the proposal would need to be consistent with the principles, objectives and policies of the interim growth plan. She said it would require more Wheatland County staff and resources to accomplish that task.
Alan Parkin, chief administrative officer with Wheatland County, said if revisions to the area structure plan (ASP) were allowed, they would need to be accepted by the CMRB and the amendments may affect other industrial areas in the county.
Williams said that a restaurant does not fit in the acceptable secondary commercial designations for the WH1ASP, because the definition allows only for retail or wholesale goods that are not purchased by everyday users.
“A restaurant would be the principal use for the parcel; supplying everyday goods and services would generate traffic and require a higher level of servicing. All of these contravene the objectives and policies of the WH1ASP,” said Williams.
She also noted that if Alberta Transportation plans to decommission the accesses from Highway 1, a gas station-restaurant would increase traffic and access to the business might change, which would leave Wheatland County responsible for building and maintaining a service road. Currently, the WH1ASP isn’t serviced with water or sewer, so planners felt having a high-water use may impact the surrounding parcel’s abilities to utilize the aquifer.
Councillor Tom Ikert said the area has not developed in the last 10 years and he would like to see more activity for the piece or property. He questioned whether the definitions of the business could be adapted within parameters of the ASP and felt modifications could be made.
Council discussed that working with the CMRB might be a good first step to ensure what will be acceptable in the future for the industrial area as a whole, and define servicing requirements and cost formulas for the area.
Reeve Amber Link asked for council’s direction in discussions within CMRB meetings.
“If it has just been sitting there, it needs to be reviewed and it would be a good time to do it now,” said Councillor Donna Biggar. “In this economy, if we are turning away people who want to develop something … that is not good.”
Steve Grundy, an associate broker for Remax Complete Commercial, president of TerraDyn Development Consultants and a spokesman for the applicant, was asked for his input.
“I have worked this area for a number of years on and off and it is a troublesome area. The vast majority of interest in this strip is marijuana growers,” said Grundy. “As much as I want to sell parcels, I feel this may be troublesome for the health of development in this park. I feel you need different kinds of business in there to make it sustainable.”
He said he had several inquiries from fast food drive-through businesses. He said commercial names at the entrance to the park would generate interest in the area and advertise the close proximity to Calgary off Stoney Trail.
Deputy Reeve Glenn Koester said he would like to see any discussions on revision to occur at a public hearing that would ensue after first reading.
Council asked for administration’s advice on what process was needed to make amendments. According to Parkin, a revamp of the ASP would allow the area to develop faster and the CMRB should be receptive to development of the area. However, he noted it might be a few months to get internal processes moving.
Grundy said timely revisions would ensure retention of current sale opportunities, or buyers will move onto secondary locations, such as Chestermere.
A first step may be to revise the definition of secondary commercial use.
“My take on secondary … is ‘secondary’ to the principal use of that parcel of land, like an accessory building. I think we should do a minor tweak to the ASP and go to the CMRB. We need to deal with this sooner or later. Start with a small step … see how it goes, and I am confident we will get it passed there. Then we can work on the rest of it. We are showing good faith. If we allow it and the CMRB rejects it, they can put a stop-work order on it, leaving us on the hook for it all. I am pretty sure that could happen, so why go down that road? If we do it in small steps, it will be just as fast as changing the land use bylaw, “said Koester.
Planning staff wanted the current request refused and then council could bring forward amendments to the ASP, but Ikert said that would leave the developer hanging, suffering a six-month delay. The developer had been under the impression that the application would be granted under discretionary ruling.
Council voted to refuse the application, but work with the developer to adapt the ASP to accommodate development needs of the industrial area. Planners had wanted council to separate developer needs from their decisions to eliminate the perception of bias. However, Wheatland County’s economic development goals support listening to input from experts in real estate and business fields to improve direction for county land initiatives.
Grundy said their consultants could bring forward some suggestions for the amended ASP and asked for direction on any other land matters, from their standpoint of making requests, for the parcels they are interested in. Any amendments are usually driven by developer requests.
“We have a piece of property out there that we have spent an amazing amount of time and a lot of energy on it and it is wrong,” said Ikert. “If there is any hope at all of getting some development in there, I am all for taking that chance. It is a tough market out there to get anybody interested. We have great advantages out here and we don’t want to tie our hands on this.”
Parkin said revisions to the ASP will involve a public hearing that will allow landowners to give their input into direction for the area. In the meantime, county staff will bring back information after contacting Alberta Transportation, and will supply the possible costs for any service roads that may need to be built.