Contentious Springbank project back on table

Scaled-down Bingham Crossing proposed

Homeowners and developers continued wrestling Tuesday over a contentious commercial complex being proposed in Springbank.

A scaled-down version of the Bingham Crossing project was back on the table during a landuse hearing hosted by Rocky View County.

Dozens weighed in on the now 61-hectare plan, which would see a retail centre, seniors’ residence and office space constructed along the Trans-Canada Highway, kittycorner to Calaway Park.

Some residents have concerns about the project’s scope, infrastructure costs and environmental impacts.

“We cannot continue to max out Mother Nature’s credit card,” said Harvey Buckley, a one-time Rocky View councillor.

Buckley also charged the current council with being “bent on more and more development.”

But Ron Renaud, president and CEO of Rencor Developments Inc., contended a “campaign of misinformation and exaggeration” has skewed views of the project, which has undergone several makeovers since 2003.

“The plan that’s before you today, the same one that was approved on Sept. 11 by council, is the result of an extensive public engagement process,” Renaud said in council chambers.

Renaud was referring to changes to the North Springbank Area Structure Plan and the Bingham Crossing Conceptual Scheme passed by Rocky View council last month.

That decision provided the go-ahead for council to consider changing the land-use designation to allow for commercial development of the area, currently approved as farmland.

It was a big step forward for the reworked plan after Rocky View council defeated it 8 to 1 in a May 2010 vote.

Since then, Reeve Rolly Ashdown said the developers have “brought a new plan forward.”

“They think they’ve got it right this time,” Ashdown said. “Time will tell”

Only 31 hectares of the overall plan was up for debate Tuesday, in what’s being dubbed “Phase 1” of the project slated for 2015.

Rocky View councillors had their own concerns during the hearing over parking, big-box stores and the bill for a new offramp from Highway 1 onto Range Road 33.

Developers said surface parking would be used, no store would likely exceed 50,000 square feet (a typical Walmart supercentre is 140,000 square feet), and the county would not incur the costs of an off-ramp.

Council was still taking residents’ feedback at press time and had not passed second and third readings. More consultation was expected to be held on Thursday.