The number one issue this year for our community is the land use re-designation application for the Shawnee Slopes Golf Course. As reported in previous newsletters, the formal application was submitted late last fall by the developer, Geo-Energy, to City Administration who spent the last couple of months working with the applicant to ensure completeness of the application. Alderman Diane Colley-Urquhart advised us on January 6th that the City Planning Department will be officially distributing the application to all key stakeholders for circulation later this month. This will be our first opportunity as a Community Association to see the application. It is the responsibility of the applicant, Geo-Energy, to conduct consultation meetings with key stakeholders. The Land Use and Mobility Advisory Committee for Ward 13 (LUMAC) will be inviting the City to their next meeting to fully define the process going forward. Alderman Diane and members of the SECA Board/Land Use Committee will attend that meeting and the SECA Board will report back to you as soon as further details are available.
I wish to draw your attention to the issue of cell phone towers which are sprouting up around the City. The Federation of Calgary Communities has advised us that they anticipate an upsurge in the number of applications in 2010, expecting as many as 300 tower applications as a result of new cell phone providers coming to market. As mentioned in my October report, our community has already been targeted for one of these towers to be located near Beacon Hill in the grounds of the Peace Lutheran Church. At the time of writing, this controversial issue has been put on hold, pending the outcome of discussions between the Church Board, the Highbury developer Perera, and the cell provider.
Our Alderman has been fully engaged in efforts to prevent the tower from being located so close to the Beacon Hill condos as well as the Highbury development. In addition to corresponding with the cell tower provider, Industry Canada and, the Prime Minister’s Office, at the City Council meeting on December 14, she amended Alderman Hawkesworth’s motion calling for the City to only agree to tower applications that went through public consultations, adding the following:
“That City Administration review the 1998 Freestanding Telecommunication Antenna Structure Planning Criteria in consultation with key stakeholders and report through the Standing Policy Committee on Land Use and Transportation no later than June 2010.
“ While the motion passed unanimously, Alderman Diane’s office reported to us that her amendment was “put forward because the original motion asked only for a review of towers under 15m, and the problems are much greater than that. The City’s current guidelines are only a page long, with other City’s having 32 page documents with better community consultation. This amendment will also have administration consider more use of City land to build these towers.”
We were also advised by our Alderman’s office that “The other amendment added to the motion asked for Mayor Bronconnier to formally write Industry Canada expressing his concerns around the entire approving process.”
Going forward, our Alderman’s office would like to continue hearing from our community as one of the key stakeholders in the review of this planning process. Please email Anthony Masleck with your input/feedback regarding these towers. Anthony’s email address is EAWARD13@calgary.ca.
I recently received a letter from one of our community members, Ryan Ockey, regarding traffic calming and would like to share the contents with you. You will find the letter reprinted with Ryan’s permission, elsewhere in this newsletter.
Respectfully submitted,
Gloria DingwallPresident
Shawnee-Evergreen Community Association