Riverview residents successfully added to the save the golf course legal fight

An agreement has been reached with counsel for the Cochrane Golf Club to add 149 homeowners as Respondents in the Originating Application. As originally filed, we (the residents and lot owners) were excluded from the Application.

Counsel for the residents is Peter Major of McLennan Ross. These homeowners represent 149 of 404 lots listed on the restrictive covenant as benefitted lands. 

The participating Riverview residents have since been collectively identified in the style of cause of this legal action as: Jennifer Foy et al, and we will be identified as such going forward. The suffix “et al” means “and others” and includes all 149 homeowners, as the example shows.

At the time, counsel for the Cochrane Golf Club advised that they would consent to our request to be added providing that doing so did not preclude them from later challenging whether the restrictive covenant applied to each or any of the homeowners. Peter Major (our lawyer) agreed, as that is simply an argument they would always be entitled to raise in this dispute. No ground was given up to reach this agreement. The agreement to add homeowners as Respondents needs to be formalized by way of a Consent Order that will need to be approved by a Justice (it was).

Cochrane Golf Club Ltd. applies to Courts to have the Restrictive Covenant removed

Mr. Tom Hong has filed an Affidavit with Court of Queen’s Bench on behalf of the Cochrane Golf Club in which he maintains that operation of the golf course is no longer viable and that this economic circumstance is sufficient argument to declare the existing Restrictive Covenant ("RC") preventing further golf course development as invalid. His evidence includes financial data up to and including 2019 and an Affidavit from his expert witness, Mr, Craig Burkhart, which substantiates Mr. Hong’s position. He also contends that the RC is illegal. The Court Application lists only the Town of Cochrane and does not mention the residential property owners who are listed as benefited lands in the subject RC.

Chestermere's Lakeside Golf Club attempts redevelopment

This article chronicles a recent failed attempt to redevelop a golf course in Chestermere.  Strong community intervention was key.

October 13, 2020, media gets word that the ownership of Chestermere's Lakeside Golf Club ownership has announced it's intention to close the golf course after 30 years, citing financial difficulties.

In March 2021, the Calgary Herald reports that Lakeside Golf Course is in discussions with Slokker Homes to replace the 18-hole golf course with a residential subdivision.  Of note "the course currently pays $166,000 a year in property tax to the City of Chestermere, whereas the proposed redevelopment would boost city coffers by $3.9 million."

Public outcry and criticism by Chestermere residents is resounding. According to Rockyview Weekly, "in October 2020, residents launched a petition aimed at formalizing their opposition to the development and formed the Lakeside Greens Golf Course Preservation Society. Since then, the society has been vocally against the proposed project."

On June 24, 2021 the City of Chestermere closed its file on proposed Lakeside Golf Club redevelopment saying that the "golf course lands are specifically designated for parks and open space use in the Municipal Development Plan" and it would remain so. The City's CAO goes on to say that "the municipality has a duty to be fair and open to “all potential developers and to duly consider all suggestions brought forward” adding that the City’s planning staff members have met with Slokker Homes representatives and the golf course’s owners many times since the proposal was first announced in September 2020.

Update Feb 2022: On a brighter note, Covid-19 has golfers golfing again within an unprecedented resurgence of interest according to this article.

https://businessincalgary.com/top-news/ready-fore-2022/