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Sunday, October 28, 2012
Word on the Street
Heard from "deep throat" my very reliable source for news on the street that the hotel chain the municipality has been trying to attract to build on our current Crowsnest Learning Centre (CLC) site is a Holiday Inn, and that negotiations are compete.
Also, Best Canadian Motor Inns (BCMI) have finally resolved their claim with their insurance company and are ready to rebuild. Apparently, a building permit has already been issued in this regard.
Finally, some good news for the Pass!
Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.
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47 comments:
How wonderful for all of us if this is true! Fingers Crossed! We really do need a good news story about now...
See, wait long enough and things become positive. Ya hooo..
The secrecy surrounding this does not give me confidence. Once the "successful proponent" to the RFP was selected, this should have been public information.
They are not dealing with the Holiday Inn chain, they are dealing with investors who claim they will get a Holiday Inn franchise.
I hope they take account of this before they sign anything:
"MGA 70(1) If a municipality proposes to transfer or grant an estate or interest in
(a) land for less than its market value,
...
the proposal must be advertised."
I think CNP got sued over this when they first sold the slackpile.
But, possibly they know what they're doing and all will be well.
Oh how did I guess the naysayers would be speaking. Holy man, does not matter what good council does, it is woe is me for them. They must be the most unhappy people on the planet!
Anon @2:40
True enough. Your points are well stated and cause for concern. Due process appears to not have been followed while at the same time facts to-date relevant to the decision making process have not being shared with the stakeholders in this community (almost like we are an insignificant afterthought :-( ). Private vs corporate Holiday Inn is also another unknown?
btw/ I just LOVEe how you regularly cite the MGA. Every time you do it I picture council and administration 'quivering' in their boots. :-)
Thanks for your comment.
JP
Anon @ 3:32
From the time I did this post until you posted your comment you had 3:42 minutes of 'bliss'. What more do you want or expect from the Pass these days? Count your blessings you even had what you did. We're in a state of perpetual doom and gloom these days and should be thankful we have finally had a break in the clouds that brought us a ray of sunshine for a few hours.
However, I do agree, maybe we should have savored the moment longer than what we did.
JP
It's we taxpayers who should be quaking in our boots over the lawsuits CNP may be facing.
Another example is the tax sales. The "conditions" on these sales amount to confiscation of easements. If this was CNP property they could impose any conditions they want. In tax sales, municipalities are in a position of trust to return the remaining proceeds after taxes to the owner.
If they want easements they should go through the Expropriation Act, which provides for fair compensation with an appeal process. I can see us being sued by both the present owner and the purchaser in these tax sales.
Very good news, I will have lots of questions soon but for now it is time to celebrate something positive.
Dean Ward
Good news is something we all need. And when we give praise we should also give Kudos to the previous council, and especially the four horsemen, who have taken so much heat at the time, in order for us to have some good news today. This is why our present council should not view everything that came before them as being wrong. They are putting too much effort fixing everything, even things which don’t need to be fixed (a little adjustment, here and there, sometimes is better than an expensive overhaul on everything). But we should give them credit when credit is due. So, not everything is wrong today - just as much as not everything that was done before needs to be upturned.
Former councillors Gail Montgomery and John Prince fought a narrowly lost plebiscite and battles over the CLC too before the for horsemen and like them lost reelection in large part over this issue. Let's not lose site of that fact. Kudos to them too.
Anon. 4:55 PM,you are right.
Holiday Inn or Ramada? This seems to have the same rhetoric we once heard about another large hotel chain. Even if we get the Holiday Inn, what do we have here that will attract people to fill these rooms? I mean, I can see the odd room being filled for when the in laws visit, but lets be honest with ourselves. Fernie hotels attract the ski crowd, we don't have major hockey or soccer tournaments. Why wasn't BCMI is such a major rush to rebuild after their loss? Perhaps because they can barely fill the rooms of their other property. How often do we see a no vacancy sign lit up there?
At best this will just give the out of town peace officers an updated place to live.
Anon @4:55
It seems people here have short memories when it comes to who were the ones who first paved the way (and paid the price) for where we are now. On behalf of Gail and myself, thank you for recognizing that fact. And to you Anon @5:17 for acknowledging it.
Anon @10:30
Exactly right! I have long advocated for a hotel/casino convention centre for this site as something that would 'attract' people to this area. I'm pretty sure with the Ramada Inn in Pincher Creek it does little to 'attract' people to their area much as I'm afraid will happen with an ordinary run of the mill Holiday Inn.
Don't get me wrong I'll be the first one at the grand opening of the Holiday Inn but as stated it will do little to draw people to this area, and that is what we really need and what we should have aimed our sites for. Anything else was selling ourselves short due to a lack of imagination and vision, I'm afraid.
JP
I believe that if there is a nice quality hotel/resturant facility here that people would incorporate that into their holidays. Lots of people come down to go fishing or hunting. And if you come from up north, i.e., Calgary or Red Deer or something, that this would be as good a place to stop as any. I don't think going by the hotels in Coleman would induce myself to stay, but a nice awesome hotel would.
Put on your "Free Markets" hat for a minute (if you have one on your hat rack).
The land could simply have been sold to the highest bidder. The buyer might have used it for a hotel, convention centre, casino, condos, shopping mall or perhaps something we have never thought of. Like another NIT or some other education/research institution.
Our leaders are wearing "Government Knows Best - Central Planning" hats. By excluding some potential bidders they reduce the price we might get for the site, but they get to determine exactly what kind of development is best for us.
I think their role should be to ensure there is adequate land zoned for suitable uses, but not to get involved in micromanaging exactly what goes where.
Anon @11:17
You're missing the point that others and myself are trying to convey. Sure it would be nice to have a new major hotel chain type of facility, but by itself it will not 'draw' people to this area. For that you need a year-round 'attraction'. Such as a convention centre, casino, amusement park, world-class: ski hill, zoo, water-world, etc., etc, etc. Otherwise, what you have is just another hotel which almost every other community big or small already has.
That is the 'lost opportunity' I spoke of, if at the end of the day we settle for mediocre, rather than using our imagination, vision and creativity to make something of the CLC that would act as a catalyst, a stepping stone, for us to be all we have a right to be.
JP
Yes, agree with that. A casino would be the cat's meow. Maybe once a hotel was up and running they could do that.
In regards to the comment about the government not deciding what comes in.... huh. Of course they decide, everywhere, not just here. Should they get a petition going to see what we all would like?
@anon 11:17
Unofrutantely CNP is not able to say we are so far away from major cities that people want to stay here after a day of fishing. The unfortunate reality is that we are so far removed, yet so close. Heck some people spend more time driving to work in their downtown Calgary office each day then it would take them to get to Dutch Creek, Turtle Mountain, or for that fact Castle Mountain. We may get a hotel, but with nothing to fill the rooms, it will only stay open for so long, at a certain vacancy rate, before it is losing money and will close it doors.
Anon 10:30
Baby steps John. It is something positive which you can build around.I could probably name 10 great thing to do outdoors here that you can not do in Pincher.We just have not done a great job of promoting these things.
On a side note , I think making a truck stop there is a horrible idea, it really is not a draw for tourism.We do need a truck stop area but it should be on the outskirts of the CNP.
"We may get a hotel, but with nothing to fill the rooms, it will only stay open for so long, at a certain vacancy rate, before it is losing money and will close it doors."
The Ramada Inn in Pincher has been for sale for the past two years? What does that tell you?
There is quite a bit of competition in Pincher. There is none here.
Anon @11:46
True enough on both counts.
JP
Hey you all, some good news is a good in itself, period. No need to worry whether it will make money or close, etc. - this is for the investors to worry about. Everyone has an idea of what shoul go in there. Of all the things this council botched, this is not one of them. The property has been publicly advertised and diifremt parties had an opportunty to bring their proposals forward. A casino would be nice, and if it was feasibe, someone would put their money forward, but no one likely did. We still need a hotel, so if someone is ready to build one, this is a good news, even if we still need to sign the petition.
Backhoe working digging a hole in front of BCMI.
Press release; answers a lot of my questions. The whole thing is on the webpage.
Municipality of Crowsnest Pass
AS A MATTER OF FACT - A Message From Your Municipal Council
It is often said that change is difficult and people resist it. These have been difficult days in Crowsnest Pass with much misinformation circulating.
This Council campaigned on change to improve the Municipality. Despite the challenges, Council is united and continues to seek input on our plans and efforts.
We developed a Community Strategic Action Plan with help from a number of dedicated citizens who worked hard to provide public input. It contains “action items” under four main pillars. This plan is essentially a roadmap to our future.
This document has been made available to the public in hard copy at various public events and at the Municipal Office. It is also available for review on our website. We have also provided this document to businesses, agencies and to government officials including the Minister of Municipal Affairs. We have been commended for the effort and foresight in developing such a document and for implementing the recommendations, rather than allowing them to sit on a shelf.
The changes contained in the Strategic plan will make our services more efficient, more effective, and more cost-effective. They won’t be easy and they will have some impact but it will be worth it.
It is easy to say we need change but when it comes to actually implementing that change there is always resistance, especially when it has a personal impact. Consolidation of Operational Services and the Fire & Rescue Services are two areas where concerns have been expressed. To be honest, the changes we are undertaking should have been made 30 years ago when amalgamation first took place. Over the years successive councils have attempted to make the changes required but always met resistance. This council intends to complete the changes required because we are all agreed they are necessary and overdue. We also have the support of the Fire Commissioner in this initiative.
The Fire Services Master Plan Review is complete and will be rolled out to the Fire Rescue personnel shortly. The purpose of the Fire Protection Master Plan is to develop a successful Fire Protection Program. A great deal of work has gone into the development of this Plan which is intended to ensure our emergency services provide industry best practices. The Master Fire Plan has reviewed present resources available relative to the needs and circumstances of the Municipality. The Plan is an objective evaluation and focuses on operational capacity, resource deployment based on community risk, response protocol, training, public
Ano 11:36 AM said:
In regards to the comment about the government not deciding what comes in.... huh. Of course they decide, everywhere, not just here.
They can decide what to keep out (like: "We don't want anything but a hotel.") but they can't "decide" that anything come in.
Unless they offer incentives. The only incentives CNP can afford to offer would be a discount off the market value of the land or a tax break.
Anon. 1:39. ?
Holiday Inn investors? A 'scary' thought just occurred to me along the lines of déjà vu.
People here who have been around for a while will remember when former Mayor Utley sold the slack pile (River Run) to a cousin of her's who with a handful of backers bought this land under the pretext they were developers, when history proved that in fact they were nothing more than speculators, who landed up selling the land to what most people today would call shysters who ripped off investors to the tune of millions of dollars.
Are we about to see a repeat of this? Again, a sitting Mayor sells the CLC land to local 'friendly' investors who in turn are nothing more than speculators, who in turn try and flip this land to who knows who... Bridgecreek wannabees?
So many questions and absolutely no answers coming from our council allows for paranoia to set in, which in turn makes the mind wander. Now doesn't it?
With the above in mind, conditions better be part of the deal to ensure this doesn't happen again. "Once burnt, twice shy".
JP
Were previous councils screwed up was with lack of a suitable security deposit should a developer walk away. No shovels, no wrecking balls and no land title transfers until such is posted is in order here. Until that time this is nothing but a rumor.
Anon. 1:39, As a matter of fact, it very likely the press release lost most of its readers with its very first condescending sentence. Since whoever writes this gibberish is dealing only with facts and truth, it probably means that the Ratepayers are only dealing with perceptions and reality.
I ran the Tourism Info centre in Pincher Creek for a couple of years. Certainly during peak tourism season you could attract a lot of travellers to the Pass, specially if you had a nice modern facility. We end up having to turn them away here during some weekends in the summer, no room in Pincher and Waterton, and CNP was always (and still is) on the list of highly suggested alternatives. If that back highway heading north (I forget it's designation) ever gets paved your numbers would go up significantly too. Lots of people ask about it, every day, in my experience, but are usually unwilling to bang up their new vehicles. CNP has a lot of charm, particularly for the city dwellers and europeans. Don't sell yourselves short.
Awesome comment from the Pincher Voice. I agree that people down here tend to be so negative and do not realize what a gem we do have here.
They need to realize every community has issues; honestly some people have never been outside of CNP....
Speaking of good news, it sounds like administration put the order in today for a $1.5 million dollar fire truck. Funny thing is, they are spending that kind of money on a truck that the Calgary, Lethbridge and Edmonton fire departments are fighting to get rid of due to its inferior capabilities. Have you heard anything about this John? Better hope those hotels go up soon so we can start getting some tax money to pay for this.
Hopefully the above is not true.
The former Work'n'Play building in Blairmore has a "SOLD" sign.
JP October 28,3:35 PM said:
I just LOVE how you regularly cite the MGA.
What got me into the MGA was thinking, what if this **** happened at the Federal or Provincial level?
For example suppose a "Message from your Parliament" ad appeared in newspapers across Canada, but there had been no discussion or resolution of Parliament to authorize the ads and nobody could find out who paid for them. This would be a major scandal, opposition members would be demanding resignations.
It should be equally scandalous in CNP. Council is our parliamentary legislature. The same rules apply as in the senior levels of government. It's not hard to find these rules in the MGA:
Methods in which council may act
180(1) A council may act only by resolution or bylaw.
This goes back hundreds of years in England when a bunch of noblemen ganged up on the king and told him "You ain't ruling by decree any more - everything has to be approved by vote of our Council".
Specifically including spending:
MGA 248 Expenditure of money
It seems that in CNP we have gone back to government by decree.
I personally find it truly amazing the negativity some people bring to a such a potentially positive story for the Pass, that we all have been hoping for, for such a long time. We have to start somewhere. From following what the council and mayor have shared since the summer - they have been doing due diligence(Let's hope they have done that), so we don't get burned again,by something like the River Run/Bridgegate fiasco. The Crowsnest Pass has a lot to offer! How about the power of some positive thought?
We should always give them credit when credit Is due. There are two discussions here. One is the good news about a potential hotel - good story. The other story is about a very silly and expensive effort by the council to tell how well they are doing. They are telling themselves, as well as us, how well they are doing and the need to stay the course, and this is at a time when about 2500 taxpayers are signing a petition that says otherwise. Is this council connected to reality? Are they having any meaningful discussion with the community? It appears they like to lecture us and to congratulate themselves.
I am soooo positive. Love it here, all I have to do is look out all my windows at the scenery and I am happy.
I think Ratepayers are bringing negative attention to us though. I am also not quite sure what they want now. I read where they said the monetary things were okay, we now have a business coming, maybe more than one, buildings are selling, and I think the communication is good with the Municipality. Sometimes, you just have to be positive and hope for the best. We can't control every little item.
To all the 'positivists' out there who find any criticism of mayor/council/adm. to be 'negativity'.
Anon @10:45 who likes to quote from the MGA made me think how at both the federal and provincial levels we have opposition parties to keep the ruling party in check, and accountable to the people. However, at the municipal level we do not.
Therefore it is incumbent for residents to keep an eye on what our municipal leaders are up to and to speak out when they appear to be ruling dictatorially or underhandedly, or against the wishes of residents. To give them carte blanche from one election to another, or to stay mum while they do whatever they want, even when they go against the wishes of the people, is foolish apathy.
The truth of the matter is, labeling people negative for voicing their concerns and opinions is being 'negative'. Being positive is taking action to ensure we are in fact being managed as we should be, have a right to be, and expect to be.
JP
p.s. Anon @6:35 I was privy to some discussion on this at the joint meeting between the Ratepayers and mayor/council/adm. but nothing was finalized at that time. Although at the time, they were throwing around figures of half the amount you spoke of?
JP
'Corporate' Holiday Inn vs. local private 'investors' wanting (hoping) to put in a hotel that is part of the Holiday Inn chain. Big difference!
John I believe it was Frank
Capron's council who sold the slack pile site to a developer (supposedly this was Frank's cousin), the Municipality then bought it back and then Utley's council sold it to John Squarek who
then sold it to the River run developers.
Anon 1:21 wrote:
"the Municipality then bought it back"
As I (dimly) recall, the first sale was annulled because the proper sale procedures were not followed. CNP was then sued by the first purchaser.
I believe the Municipality did not legally own the slack pile site the first time it was sold. I dont know if your followers have researched this property. It was also the original destination for a ball/soccer sportsfields until that got scraped. Between this site and the present location of the sports complex you could write a book on why nothing gets completed here. It really parrellels what has been happening with this community. No support from various councils to see things through. I do not support this council but i will give them this---- they are going to do it their way come hell or high water. I can appreciate that after seeing various councils getting dumped by the public for even entertaining the thought of changing things--(SEE LEARNING CENTER)
JP 9:44 wrote:
"I was privy to some discussion on this at the joint meeting between the Ratepayers and mayor/council/adm."
In today's news:
Report: Councillors who meet in secret should be fined, jailed
Ontario ombudsman André Marin says municipalities ‘shockingly secretive’
In Ontario that kind of closed-to-the-public unofficial meeting is illegal and under their "Sunshine Law" people can complain to the Ombudsman, who says "Right now, municipal councils—some of them at least—play loose with the rules because there are no consequences. If there was a consequence, such as a fine or imprisonment, councillors would think twice about breaking these rules."
It's also illegal in Alberta but there are even less consequences. Our Ombudsman does not even have jurisdiction over municipalities.
Everything is supposed to be open unless it is specifically excepted in FOIP (personal info, etc.)
Anon @8:53
Thank you for this.
Some would say that this indeed is what has caused the bulk of our problems here in the Pass. Due to the fact municipal governments have no opposition parties (unlike our provincial and federal counterparts) to keep them in check with an open forum to ensure transparency this ability to conduct council business in secret with no penalties as a deterant really should be illegal.
JP
As Pat Stier explained, other than his vote in the Legislature, an MLA (theoretically, legally) has no more power than an ordinary citizen.
What we should be doing is drawing a clear line between what is official or not. It rang alarm bells for me when Emile said the RRD committee was "neither".
If things are official (by Council resolution or by-law) then some bothersome legalities kick in.
If they are unofficial they should have no more right to use municipal facilities and resources than any non-profit group and they should not be using public funds unless specifically authorised by Council.
If it's a councillor signing the unauthorised cheques that is grounds for disqualification (and we can go to court to force resignation).
If it's a municipal employee we should bring it to the attention of the auditors. They don't seem to look very hard for irregularities, but they could't ignore detailed list with signatures from taxpayers.
What month do the auditors come by?
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