Town Council holds Public Hearing regarding reopening of local road

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

On the evening of April 10 Pincher Creek's Town Council held a Public Hearing regarding proposed Road Closure Bylaw No. 1609-12.

Present  at the hearing was Mayor Ernie Olsen, Councillors Sahra Hancock, Lorne Jackson, Murray Lauder, and Don Anderberg, and CAO Laurie Wilgosh.  Councillors Wayne Oliver and Smyth were absent.


After a previous Public Hearing held on March 26, Council passed Land Use Bylaw 1547-P to allow the re-designation of a parcel of land situated east of Bev McLachlin Drive and south of Highway 6 from TUR Transitional/Urban Reserve to C2 Highway/Drive-in Commercial.  The landowner wants to remove the existing derelict buildings on the property to build an office building.

The Council heard the concerns of citizen David Willms, of Willms Construction Limited, who owns property to the east of the proposed road, and who was opposed to reopening and in particular expanding the road.  Council also heard from Endre Lillejord, owner of Golden Life Management. He spoke on behalf of Whispering Winds Village, and was in favor of the proposal.

(Facing south from Highway 6)
The proposed bylaw is part of a process that would see these derelict
 structures demolished and replaced with an office building, with a roadway to the south of them.
C. Davis photo

Letters read by CAO Wilgosh indicated that Fire Chief Dave Cox had no issues with the proposal. Municipal Enforcement Constable Nigel Whittington  was in favour of it if it created no new intersections.  Director of Operations Al Roth supported it.  Fortis also approved it.

David Willms spoke first, and at great length. "When I read this proposed bylaw, I inquired as to what purpose of this reopening was," he said, "and I was given quite a variety of fictitious reasons why that road needed to be reopened, and every time they came up with a reason, I refuted them."  He asked council if the real reason for opening the road was the proposed office building.  He was concerned the new road would result in the closure or re-routing of his driveway, which presently opens onto Highway 6/Waterton Avenue.

(facing south from Highway 6)
Citizen David Willms is concerned that the proposed road would change
his business' access to Highway 6.
C. Davis photo

"What would be the cost of building this road?" he asked. "I'm really concerned that nobody's really worried about the cost of it."  He also questioned how the setback requirements would "make it impossible to put any building there, even if you did add the road to it."  At the Mayor's direction, CAO Laurie Wilgosh explained "The 30 foot setback is the Town's requirement for an office building...the 300 metres (setback) is from the highway property line, and it means that anything that's developed within that 300 metres would have to have prior approval from the Department of Transportation. The 800 metres it refers to if it was within 800 metres from an intersection it also requires the approval of Alberta Transportation.  So this will require their approval before development."

Endre Lillejord spoke next. "We operate Whispering Winds Village and we fully support this," he said.  "We feel that the benefits far outweigh the costs.  I think it's a great asset to the Town of Pincher Creek.  In order to get to Whispering Winds we have to wind down four different avenues through a residential area, and that has been a nightmare for residents and visitors, and a lot of people who haven't been there before end up getting lost trying to find their way down there.  I just think this would give us a better direct access to our building, but more so than that it's going to take a lot of pressure off of the traffic through those residential areas."  He mentioned the number of children that ride their bicycles in the area, suggesting a different route would make the residential roads safer for them.

At the conclusion of Lillejord's remarks, and with no one else wishing to speak about the bylaw, the Public Hearing was declared closed.

Also see:
Town holds Public Hearing re bylaw amendment to allow new construction near Highway 6