Exshaw Mountain Gateway receives subdivision approval

Local Journalism Initiative
·7 min read

A subdivision application for a major development that will add 44 lots and potentially increase the population of the hamlet of Exshaw by about another 100-plus people was approved.

The MD of Bighorn’s municipal planning commission (MPC) greenlit the subdivision application for Exshaw Mountain Gateway Inc. (EMGI) Friday (July 5), with several conditions.

Nine conditions or revisions were added to the original list of 37, with MPC also imposing conditions on the hours of subdivision work for utility installation, based on concerns voiced by the public.

“EMGI has reviewed the report and the conditions of approval are great and we can work through that, as well, during the detailed design stage,” said EMGI owner Jason Hoerle.

“We’ve had a lot of meetings with locals and phone calls and text messages over the years. We appreciate the public engagement we’ve had through the ASP (area structure plan) process, various open houses, as well as site walks.”

The 35.5-hectare parcel of land in the northeast corner of Exshaw was purchased by Hoerle and wife, Lindsay, in 2018. Hoerle noted there were 40 letters of support – with many from local developers and realtors – and 14 letters of concern at the subdivision stage.

Those in support of the development commented on the need to add housing to the Bow Valley, retain and attract residents, the development’s potential for rental suites and employment opportunities.

Letters of concern were primarily around maintaining the “look and feel” of the hamlet, densification, parking, road widths, potential disruption to wildlife, flooding – a long contentious issue in Exshaw – and allowed hours and noise related to construction activity.

After several years of going back and forth between the MD, developers and community members, the ASP was adopted by MD of Bighorn council in June 2023. Subdivision calls for 12 ridge lots meant for single detached dwellings and allowance for secondary suites; 29 lower lots intended for single detached and duplex units, with restrictions on building basements due to flooding concerns; two multi-family lots subject to future subdivision application; and one larger 4.4-hectare mountain lot for a single detached dwelling.

Variances requested are for four pie-shaped lots, reducing lot widths by up to 2.11 metres of the required 12.8 metres under the MD’s land use bylaw.

Other variances were for various road width reductions, which raised concern from some residents, as well as MD operations staff.

“The MD of Bighorn’s protective services department has expressed concerns with the proposed variances, as outlined in the circulation comments,” a staff report noted. “The department is not supportive of the 7.25m road width variances due to the size of the firefighting apparatus, combined with mutual aid vehicles and other vehicles parked nearby.”

Formal variance approval by the MD of Bighorn and its third-party review engineer Morrison Hershfield will occur at the detailed design stage before subdivision endorsement, the report noted.

Several conditions were added to the subdivision application to address concerns from the MD and the public, including moving proposed snow storage sites to public utility lots or another MD approved location, a revised landscape plan to ensure plant species conform to standards, widening of the mountain lot’s private access road to allow turnaround of Bighorn’s operations vehicles, a rockfall mitigation and access plan, and a final building grade plan and berm elevation designed to the satisfaction of the MD.

An overland flood prevention berm is proposed behind eastern lots that back onto land toward Jura Creek.

The MD wants lot location and size to be confirmed by a qualified professional engineer.

“Any of the assessments shall contain an analysis of settlement, varying capacity and global stability,” said Bighorn’s senior development planner Jenny Kasprowicz. “The construction of the infill shall be monitored by a qualified professional engineer to ensure that it meets the foundation design intent.”

Some residents who experienced damaging flooding of their homes in Exshaw in 2013 and again in 2021, said the development has brought on more worry about drainage in east Exshaw.

Bighorn’s municipal development plan (MDP) states any ASP proposed within east Exshaw should address high groundwater level and Jura Creek flood prevention.

There were two studies completed by BGC Engineering as part of the approval of the EMGI ASP. The second report concluded that despite prevention work completed on Jura Creek, a protection berm was still recommended on the east and south sides of the EMGI lands for extreme weather events.

EMGI also plans to backfill the entire site with porous fill for stormwater management.

But flood protection proposed for the site was not to the satisfaction of some current residents of the hamlet, who questioned if it might exacerbate flooding concerns in the rest of Exshaw.

“Every year that there has been flooding and/or high groundwater it has all had to drain onto the land in question. If that is built up it seems like it would just cause water to drain towards us from both sides with nowhere for it to go,” wrote hamlet resident Jonathan Mills.

“If it does lead to flooding of our homes, who’s going to pay for the damage?”

Planning commissioner Jen Smith, who also lives in Exshaw and sits on MPC as a representative of MD of Bighorn council, asked the same question of MD administration.

“With the engineering and due diligence that EMGI has done on their land, what happens when the existing portion of town – [Mount] MacGillivray [Drive] and Pigeon [Mountain Drive] – become the bottom of the bowl?” she asked.

“Who is on the hook for additional impacts that happen in existing Exshaw?”

Bighorn’s director of planning and development services Hayley Gavin said the MD’s third-party review engineer concludes with BGC Engineering that flood mitigation measures for EMGI would not impact the rest of Exshaw, based on current analysis.

It was further noted during the detailed engineering stage of the subdivision, that a third-party engineer will review the grading and elevation plans to evaluate the proposed flood protection measures. This requirement is included in the conditions for subdivision approval.

The MDP also states any ASP for the area should address the provision of open spaces and trails, including a naturally treed area, and impacts on wildlife, particularly to wildlife corridors on the north side of the hamlet and their connection to the Bow River.

The EMGI application includes parcels of municipal reserves, several of which have been proposed with trails running through.

The applicant submitted a proposed municipal reserve trails concept plan, with a trail running along the AltaLink right-of-way located between the ridge lots and mountain lot, a park within an inner portion of municipal reserve land and several trail connections connecting sidewalks to trails within the subdivision.

Supporting reports for EMGI include a historic resources impact assessment, preliminary wildlife survey, rare plant survey, FireSmart recognition program report, geotechnical reports, rockfall risk assessments and trail reports and assessments.

A traffic impact assessment recommended intersections at Highway 1A at Windridge Road and Highway 1A at Heart Mountain Drive also be improved to include accelerating and decelerating lanes.

When complete, it is anticipated phase one of the development will add about 112 people to Exshaw’s current population of around 450. Subdivision of the lots is for phase one lands only, with phase two land use yet to be determined.

Potential phase two area uses could include municipal reserve, trails or a recreation facility, solar power regeneration or other green energy initiatives, residential development or education facilities. An ASP amendment is required prior to any significant development of phase two lands.

All lots proposed are to be serviced by municipal water and wastewater connections, with the Exshaw Utility Master Plan taking the EMGI subdivision into consideration.

EMGI would be responsible for payment of off-site levies and cost contributions for municipal water, wastewater, stormwater and intersection improvements at the connections to Highway 1A as conditions of a development agreement with the MD. A working draft for an updated off-site levy bylaw was presented at Bighorn's Tuesday (July 9) meeting.

Any utility work done as part of subdivision is also only allowed within the hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday, as part of an additional condition by the MD to address resident concerns.

Jessica Lee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Rocky Mountain Outlook

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