A panorama view of the river valley and River Flats neighbourhood is provided from the edge of the Medicine Hat Stampede Grounds. The northern-most portion of the exhibition grounds was the subject of debate at city council on Monday night as the potential to sell the land for residential housing was included in a long-term planning document.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Behind-the-scenes work to market a portion of the Stampede grounds as a potential infill housing development is off the books after city councillors passed an amendment to the new Municipal Development Plan on Monday.
That document proposes more intense development in specific parts of mature neighbourhoods, including a potential housing development at the Stampede grounds.
Coun. Jim Turner, who represents council on the Stampede board, said the non-profit ag society was surprised and concerned when the proposal was noted in the most recent version of the long-term planning document.
“These 20 acres are vitally important to them and they’re very concerned it would be sold off,” said Turner, whose proposed amendment to remove the project passed by a slim 5-4 margin.
Eventually the entire plan passed, but not before contentious debate about community reaction to an effort to generally sell-off excess city land.
In late 2018 that caused controversy when a green space near the community of Connaught was sold for condo development.
Coun. Kris Samraj seconded the amendment after earlier questioning late additions of infill nodes in Crestwood and Riverside.
“There’s a general perception that we’re trying to pull a fast one,” he said.
Stampede board officials told the News they had no knowledge of the potential project. The News is aware that the city’s land development office sought out consultants to develop a marketing plan for the parcel in January 2020. Turner suggested it was set to be publicly announced this month.
Those 20 acres are part of the exhibition grounds currently used each year as a staging area and barns for annual chuckwagon racing.
Turner said the board is now reviewing its capital construction plans that could benefit greatly from government infrastructure grants.
In concert, they would like to secure an extension of a long-term lease they have with the city that expires in five years. They want certainty about what lands the lease would cover.
Mayor Ted Clugston said the removal would clear up confusion, but other councillors said that the plan is a “living document” and a guideline that could be changed at council’s direction.
Couns. Darren Hirsch, Jamie McIntosh, Phil Turnbull and Brian Varga voted to leave the potential project in.
Hirsch said council’s priority is to sell unused land, and that requires “tough decisions.”
“What council members and taxpayers have to understand is that it’s easy to say that, ‘Oh, it’s this group and they’ve done great things,’ but there’s an opportunity cost (potential revenue) there that we’re missing out on,” he said. “Are we willing to stomach that?”
Turnbull verbally sparred with Coun. Robert Dumanowski over the change, stating that communities and land use needs to change over time, and underutilized land should be put to new purposes.
