SSRP Draft Consultation

Why you should care: The SSRP will determine the recreational use, industrial use  and conservation of a huge chunk of the province, from Canmore to Waterton, including what happens in Kananaskis and Peter Lougheed Park.  This is a big deal…

The official consultation for reviewing the draft of the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan happened on Nov. 13 at the Glenmore Inn in Calgary.  It was an interesting session.  The 80+ attendees were grouped at ~20 tables, each one led by a facilitator.  The draft plan is somewhat vague.  The word “vague” kept coming up over and over again during the course of the day.  Also, there were many requests for better numbers, specifically regarding the forestry industry.  The plan went into a fair bit of detail about the regional economic benefits from tourism, energy and agriculture.  However, it gave provincial amounts for forestry revenue without tying those numbers back to the South Saskatchewan region.  This makes doing an apples to apples comparison of economic benefit between tourism and forestry challenging.  As I chatted with others over the course of the day, one thing that surprised me [but shouldn’t have] was that nobody had any clue what trails cost to build.  When I told people it costs $6,000 to $10,000 to build 1 km of trail, they were stunned.  They were also surprised to hear that volunteers lead the trail building organizations in the Calgary area, and that there is no central trail organization for the region, much less the province.

You can get more information on the SSRP at the various websites:

• What’s happening at the consultation sessions and open houses: http://aesrd.wordpress.com/
• SSRP Main Page: https://landuse.alberta.ca/RegionalPlans/SouthSaskatchewanRegion/SSRPPlanning/Pages/default.aspx
• Details on where the remaining sessions are being held: https://landuse.alberta.ca/Newsroom/Pages/PublicConsultations.aspx

Believe it or not, they’re already most of the way through phase 3, the consultation part.  The plan will be finalized in early 2014 based on the stakeholder feedback.  If you weren’t able to attend the draft review session, you should definitely fill out the workbook.  It takes you through the whole consultation that occurred on the 13th, but at your own leisure.

City of Calgary Report on Eastlands

Earlier this year, a research study of the Paskapoo Slopes area [a.k.a. Eastlands] was commissioned by the City of Calgary.  There was a questionnaire/survey distributed via various methods.  The survey results are here: http://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/Parks/Documents/Planning-and-Operations/paskapoo-slopes-user-study.pdf.  Some highlights:

• Cycling in the Eastlands is the most popular primary activity in the area
• Hiking/walking/chillaxing is the most popular overall activity
• Most people want the area left as-is
• Skateboarding facilities are desired [apparently]
• CMBA is mentioned several times as a group that could oversee or maintain the area [note that CMBA does not do any work in the Eastlands at present]

The survey is a good read; you should check it out.  We’ll try to keep you up to date regarding any developments in this very popular riding area…