Foothills County has not made a decision yet on the proposed Toyota dealership north of Okotoks.
High River Toyota filed an application to relocate to Highway 2A and 322 Avenue, at the beginning of the year. Council held a public hearing Jan. 22 on an application to have the land redesignated from country-residential to direct control district to accommodate a car dealership as the business looks to move from High River to the Okotoks area.
Council gave first reading to the land-use bylaw on Feb. 12 and directed staff to address planning and transportation issues at the Okotoks intermunicipal committee meeting (IMC) and with Alberta Transportation prior to considering second and third readings.
Jeff Edgington, infrastructure and public works supervisor for the County, said discussions with Alberta Transportation revealed the Province is not interested in signalizing the intersection at Highway 2A and 322 Ave., which was part of Toyota’s proposal for the development. The dealership had stated it would install lights at its own cost.
“Alberta Transportation is not in support of any signalization of this secondary highway at this location, as they feel it is premature in that there is not a reason behind doing the signalization even if someone else is paying for it,” said Edgington.
Further transportation concerns cited by council involved the current configuration of the intersection at Highway 2A and 338 Ave., at Okotoks GM and the SAVE animal clinic. Traffic cannot enter 338 Ave. heading east from 15 Street, the service road where the SAVE clinic, Okotoks Alliance Church, StorageMart and Okotoks Farmers Market are located.
The Toyota dealership would be located at the opposite end of 15 Street, and the dealership has committed to improving the road at the site of its development.
“I’m more concerned about the existing traffic light (at 338 Ave.) and sorting out the pork chops, that would be my issue,” said Coun. R.D. McHugh. “If we could come to a remedy at that intersection with the Town of Okotoks, then this project does kind of completely make sense.”
However, indications at the IMC were that any upgrades at the intersection would be years down the road, said CAO Harry Riva Cambrin.
He said with transportation modelling used by both municipalities, staff of the County and the Town of Okotoks could come up with solutions to issues at the 338 Ave. intersection.
“It’s going to take a bit of time to organize pulling together that information for the two councils to look at,” said Riva Cambrin. “Indicating what the next steps are there is a ways off.”
Div. 5 Coun. Alan Alger argued to shut down the conversation given the question surrounding transportation and the number of area residents who came out to oppose the development at the hearing in January, and not proceed with any further readings on the land-use bylaw.
“My support for the whole program is not there,” said Alger.
His motion was defeated, and council voted to hold another public hearing prior to considering second or third reading, due to an error in advertising in January, when the wrong map was published by the Western Wheel.
“Because of that it does not meet the requirements of the act or the land-use bylaw,” said Hemingway. “So if council wishes to proceed ahead I would suggest we should prepare another public hearing in order to be within the legislation correctly.”
Coun. Delilah Miller said moving ahead with a second hearing makes sense, despite Alberta Transportation indicating it does not support traffic lights at 322 Ave. as proposed.
“I think we’ve had a reasonable explanation from Toyota as to them posting any kind of bond that we would like them to post for future remedies to that intersection, so once Alberta Transportation comes up with that solution I think they’re more than willing to work with us on it,” said Miller. “I think if you’re not willing to proceed ahead of this you’re going to wait for Transportation and it will never happen.
“I don’t know if that’s a good enough reason to hold up the project.”
The public hearing date has not been advertised. More information can be found at www.mdfoothills.com.
Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca
