BALZAC, Alta. – Balzac is a typical speck of a place on the prairie.
Located 10 minutes north of Calgary city limits, it has two houses, two churches, a community hall, coffee shop, gas station, seed cleaning mill and garden centre. The town is bordered by an RV storage company and a few warehouses to the north, Highway 2 to the east and a gully and pastureland to the south.
But it’s to the west where big changes will occur within the next couple of years, when a community of 1,400 homes springs from the 10,000-year-old prairie soil, including a golf course and country club, landscaped paths, retail outlets and a health centre.
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Proposed by Melcor Developments Ltd. of Calgary, the concept is now in the subdivision application stage with the Municipal District of Rocky View.
That overnight development is the reality for many farm communities surrounding Calgary as the city’s growth continues unabated.
“Calgary is experiencing classic urban sprawl,” said Brad Stelfox, who owns Forem Technologies, a private company focusing on sustainable resource management.
Stelfox estimates that Calgary is growing three percent per year, which means the city’s population could triple to three million within four decades. It now occupies 400 sq. kilometres of land, but may eventually require another 600. If this sprawl continues, the M.D. of Rocky View could be swallowed whole by 2050.
While the Alberta government promotes growth, there are costs, Stelfox told more than 100 people gathered at the Balzac Hall for the annual Action for Agriculture meeting.
Stelfox said he puts both the grizzly bear and the rancher of the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains on his endangered species list because both are losing their traditional homes to uncontrolled growth of city, rural residential development and energy and forestry activity.
“They are on the way out if there isn’t a different trajectory by society.”
The booming oil and gas industry, forestry and tourism mean more roads, greater pressure on the water supply and modified grasslands.
He predicts expanding acreage development west of the city as more urban residents look for peace and quiet against attractive scenery. Planners need to evaluate the size of these plots for the future.
Stelfox lives on an acreage near Bragg Creek, west of the city. In the last five years, four major ranches have been lost and more are up for sale in his community.
The problem may come down to societal values and a need for better land use planning.
Barry Worbets of the Canada West Foundation said many government planning policies for managing land, water and other resources are 30 years out of date. However, he feels that growing frustration among farmers, energy companies and the general public may force change.
“If ranchers leave this province, we will have failed as a province,” Worbets said.
“Our economic house is in order, so let’s start doing some yard work.”
Part of the Alberta Advantage is its unique landscape, he said, but the government is not prepared to measure its value as natural capital. Few oil companies know how much land or water they use, making it difficult to estimate the future supply of a limited resource.
He argued some land uses should dominate in the future. Rather than looking at multiple uses, it may be necessary to establish dominant uses to protect certain areas.
Those concepts should lead to smart growth policy, a concept that examines the direction city growth should pursue.
Mark Winfield of the Pembina Institute studies urban sprawl and its impacts in Montreal, Toronto and British Columbia’s Lower Mainland. Calgary is the next target for study.
Typically, modern cities have allowed winding suburbs to spring up around the cores.
Smart growth does not mean building up a city with high rises. It could mean neighbourhoods with semi-detached homes on smaller lots built on a grid of straight roads so people can move around easier.
His research shows there is value in redeveloping city cores or rebuilding crumbling neighbourhoods with new housing and stores.
Most municipalities can no longer afford their infrastructure costs for new roads, water and sewer. He suggested that for every tax dollar spent on public works, at least $1.15 is required to pay the construction costs.
However, he admitted existing public policy at provincial and municipal levels encourages urban sprawl. Setting urban boundaries and placing strict caveats on developers is a challenge.
“Doing that successfully requires a fair degree of co-ordination.”
New land use planning may require regional integration and interdepartmental co-operation to prevent patchwork development.
In addition, attention must be paid to communities outside the prosperous regions where success is only a rumour. Schools are closing, people are moving away and farmers struggle outside the golden corridor of Highway 2.
“The story of Calgary is not what is happening in eastern Alberta,” said Les Brost of Lethbridge.
Harvey Buckley, president of Action for Agriculture and a rancher near Cochrane, suggested Canada may need a conservation policy similar to the United States. Under the farm bill, land is set aside in conservation programs and producers are paid to protect the land.
“We need enabling legislation for land trusts and conservation easements,” he said.
“The U.S. is addressing this better.”
