At a special meeting on October 25, Okotoks Town Council passed third readings for both Bylaw 19-21 for land use re-designation and Bylaw 20-21 to rescind the Wind Walk Area Structure Plan. The Wind Walk development was a proposed 60-hectare community located on the south side of Highway 7 at Secondary Highway 783.
“With the lack of progress on the development and considering the new Municipal Development Plan and Land Use Bylaw, as well as an updated water allocation policy, the Town needed to re-evaluate the Wind Walk project,” said Jeff Greene, Community Growth Investment & Sustainability Director at the Town of Okotoks. “The Town has been reviewing its growth management plans and determined that it was appropriate to rescind the original site plans and reformulate the appropriate development for the area.”
At its July 19th Council meeting, Council held a public hearing and postponed consideration of third reading until legal advice was received to ensure that the receivership order did not prevent the Town of Okotoks from moving forward on land use and area structure plan changes.
The Town’s proposal was opposed by the largest lender of the development and the Receiver appointed for the landowner and went to the Alberta court for ruling. Justice Craig Jones ruled that the receivership of the project does not prevent the Town from rezoning the land or rescinding the area structure plan.
Council received word from the Court of Queen’s Bench on Thursday, October 21 that the Town was cleared to move forward with rezoning the proposed Wind Walk development back to agricultural lands.