Riverview and Golf Course Approval
The Riverview community in Cochrane was marketed and built as a golf course community in the early 1990s with a 9-hole golf course and driving range as its promised centerpiece. Here is the original brochure. Click on it if you like for more details.
In the Town of Cochrane's ("ToC") 1988 approval of the subdivision plan, the approval was subject to the golf course always remaining a public golf course, especially as a noise buffer / separation with the sawmill.
Upon approval in 1989, public records indicate that the subdivision developer United Management Inc. (as Landlord) leased the golf course lands under a 50-year lease to a company called RGC Golf Management Inc. (as Tenant) who commenced groundworks to develop the golf course. The land was initially leased as the actual golf course parcel was not yet fully approved nor registered with Alberta Land Titles and construction had already commenced. Once the parcels were approved, RGC Golf became the owner of the lands they had developed into a golf course. The caveat representing the 50 year lease transferred to the golf course parcel and remained on the land title. RGC Golf (as a tenant) became their own landlord.
In March 2003, the golf course was sold to and purchased by a company named the Cochrane Golf Club Ltd ("CGC"), controlled by Dennis Hong. Prior to and at the point of sale, the 50-year lease was still registered on the land title. CGC discharged the caveat/lease 4 weeks later, April 11, 2003.
Within months of purchase, an application to the Town of Cochrane was made by Cochrane Golf Club to rezone a portion of the golf course into a subdivision....
