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Invermere must retain its ability to plan accordingly
e-KNOW Editorial
Western Canadians don’t like government, as a rule.
Used to the wide open spaces or endless tracts of forested wilderness, compared to the tightly packed confines or urban overkill as seen out east, we tend to view land planning and use with wider lenses. There’s always more land – always more room to make amends if we goof up when it comes to urban or rural planning.
Most of the time that is simply not the case. It is outdated thinking that has been trampled to death by money-mad developers seeking to squeeze as many pennies as possible from a piece of property. And it is time that long-term thinking and visioning was applied to every land use decision made, from the smallest and most seemingly insignificant matters to the largest pieces of property.
This region has a problem. Almost every municipality is wrestling with development and growth at its borders.
The City of Fernie and Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) continue to try and figure out the conundrum that is West Fernie and another recent application east of the city was narrowly defeated.
Cranbrook and the RDEK have the sprawling large property rural area south of the city named Gold Creek and the East Hill issue will arise again.
Kimberley recently expanded its boundaries.
The Village of Radium Hot Springs has been dealing with boundary growth for years.
And Invermere has a whopper of a conundrum in the Grizzly Ridge Properties, which landlocks the town to its south and west.
Properly planned, with an eye on transportation corridors, parks and trails, Grizzly Ridge could make Invermere an even greater place to live and grow.
Poorly considered, it could result in a myriad of complicated planning matters that could only be solved via piecemeal and expensive stitches here and there. The district is once again wrestling with concerns over uncontrolled subdivision and development, though the current economic environment doesn’t exactly stand behind any great surge in growth in the Grizzly Ridge Properties or anywhere else.
Luckily, there are wise elected officials and administrative staff members in all our municipalities and with the regional district and the ethos of keeping ‘development in developed areas’ continues to rule most decision making (we won’t bring up Jumbo right now). Development adjacent to municipal boundaries isn’t always a bad thing. Shadow Mountain and Wildstone, north of Cranbrook are examples where economy and logic seem to have taken root.
Uncontrolled subdivision of the lands around Invermere, specifically with the Grizzly Ridge Properties, could cause a never-ending series of interconnected headaches and tarnish the shine on this scenic, beloved town. Invermere has an enormously bright future, as long as economic diversification is considered, and the charms of the area and the town aren’t flattened from the weight of demands made by impatient or unconcerned developers.
Land use planning is living in the 21st Century. It is time for property owners, with large holdings adjacent to towns, and developers, to also enter this century. Twentieth Century behaviour in terms of the land stampede, out here in the Wild West, must be corralled and put into a home for the tired and greedy.
Vision pushing forward 50 and 100 years will allow for the towns and rural areas we all hold so dearly in our hearts to flourish without the snags and high hurdles created by short-term profiteering.
Eyes are open on our councils and with our administrations. It is required that the greater population they serve gets on the same page, and it continues to be required that neighbouring jurisdictions also stay on the same page and work with one another. Current land use policies, with all jurisdictions, need to be amended to reflect these concerns and loopholes need to be eliminated or shrunk to the point that value is removed from them.
Good job District of Invermere, for sticking to your guns and keeping your lens narrowed on the task at hand.
We’re behind you.
Ian Cobb/e-KNOW
