BROOKS, Alta. – When Karen Rose looks west she has a clear view of native grasslands surrounding Lake Newell.
But it’s not only the view she wants to protect. There is also 200 acres of wildlife habitat and unbroken native range along the lakeshore that she and husband Dale Redelback lease from the Eastern Irrigation District.
Lake Newell, just south of Brooks, is one of many manmade lakes in southern Alberta. Created as irrigation reservoirs, these lakes do more than provide water for thirsty crops. They have become prime recreation areas.
Read Also
Calf hormone implants can give environmental, financial wins
Hormone implants can lead to bigger calves — reducing greenhouse gas intensity, land use intensity and giving the beef farmer more profit, Manitoba-based model suggests.
Big city developers eye lakeshores as prime country residential havens.
“We’re not opposing development, we’re opposing the area they have chosen,” said Rose, who has lived by the lake for 21 years.
The irrigation district owns the land around Lake Newell and in the early 1990s saw its potential for summer cottages and homes.
“The county sees it as a perfect development on perfect land but it won’t be the same anymore,” said Rose.
Jager Homes of Calgary, and Blain Homes of Brooks, have an option to buy the land from the irrigation district.
Developer Dennis Blain said they plan a low density housing project with 63 fully serviced lots on 200 acres. A marina for launching boats is planned for one side and a 30 metre buffer zone would separate the homes from the shoreline.
The irrigation district would control the buffer area.
Building plans suffered a setback when the County of Newell voted July 9 to refuse the developers’ appeal to rezone the land from agricultural use to country residential.
Blain said he plans to reapply for the zoning change as soon as possible. He already owns a small development of executive style homes on the north side of the lake, where there are still lakefront lots available.
Rose lives on the east side of the lake and uses land where Blain wants to build as a pasture for a horse training business.
She feels her family have been good environmental stewards. They keep the grassland in good shape with a controlled grazing plan. They don’t allow hunting or trespassing and want to preserve the habitat as a bird sanctuary.
Rose and Redelback have been accused of wanting a large cash settlement for the leased land but they insist it is not a personal vendetta and they don’t want money. They hold 40 acres of their own land where they could carry on business.
They did not get first right of refusal to buy the land and the development was proposed before their lease expired.
They have been negotiating with the district but found it was such an emotional issue, they hired a mediator to speak for them.
If the development goes through, Rose and Redelback want a buffer between their land and the housing project. They also want an environmental impact assessment conducted before any more land deals are allowed.
Redelback’s mother Elizabeth has lived by the lake since 1941.
More to come
She sees this development as the tip of the iceberg where more lakes in the province are taken up for shoreline developments, bringing with them urban problems and a proliferation of noisy water toys.
“Soon there’ll be no lakes left when the rich want a new playground.”
She said there are some endangered species like burrowing owls on the property, although owl specialist Dave Scobie failed to find any evidence of the birds in the area.
During a public meeting to discuss the rezoning application, local residents said they don’t want the area to become like Lake Chestermere, a resort community that has grown up around the Western Irrigation District’s reservoir east of Calgary. The town, full of executive style homes and a boat in every driveway, encircles the lake. And building continues at a rapid pace.
Ralph Kraft, who lives near Lake Newell, objected to the project because it could destroy prime land.
“There’s very few places to go. Most of the lakeshore is very bleak. That little block is the nicest part of the lake and we’re going to lose it,” he said. Brooks, a town of 11,500, needs more housing, but not those kind of homes, he said.
