Lawn signs spring up!

The sun started shining and the lawn signs mentioned in our mid-June 2022 legal update arrived about the same time and are starting to pop up in the neighbourhood in backyards facing the golf course in key locations and on the street.

The QR code and the website address on the sign direct the curious to www.SaveCochraneGolfCourse.org where they can find information and background on the residents' legal fight to preserve the restrictive covenant put in place to stop any further non-golf-related development of golf course lands, and requesting financial support. Please share and please contribute!

Whether a Riverview Greens resident, a Cochranite, or an avid golfer from elsewhere, we are all in this together. Take action now and pledge your financial support, or risk loosing it. 

You can e-transfer your financial contribution to SaveCochraneGolfCourse@gmail.com  

Please include your name and property address.

You will get an auto-deposit notice.

THANK YOU!!!!!

A Realtor's perspective on the RC legal battle

This is a guest post by long time Riverview resident and Realtor Denise Staples 

“As Riverview residents, the fact we have a golf course and restaurant/pub is an asset to the neighbourhood for all of us, including buyers moving into the area and for sellers selling. As residents we should be showing support for this gold nugget in our neighbourhood.

The golf course owners are business men, and business men do not look at our emotional well being, but more what dollars they can get from a property they buy and sell. They can use those revenues to further improve this golf course, or they can use the Riverview course as a revenue source and reinvest the proceeds in other projects. Either way, the profitability of this golf course is a win-win — for us and for them.

It is an asset for the golf course to have a great restaurant, and it is a benefit to locals here as well. The restaurant we have (Lucky Penny) is great, and so is the food. By supporting the restaurant we are making sure they are able to pay their rent; they are able to continue generating revenue for the golf course while serving our community.

So when the idea of hosting a golf tournament fundraiser was mentioned at the TownHall…why not? Meetings could be hosted there...why not? Enjoying the awesome outdoor patio...why not? Who better to show we want the golf course to remain a valued amenity in our community than the residents of our community? Ordering food or sitting in the restaurant...why not? Who better than Riverview to support?

We will not be letting go of the restrictive covenant, but we can help the golf course thrive. Revenue is important to the golf course owners. The more of us that support these community gems, the more we all stand to benefit.

Sometimes bringing positivity to an otherwise negative situation can be good for all in the end. Just reaching out with another perspective."

-DS

Riverview residents meet for an update on their golf course legal battle

Good turn-out, but we can't publish faces!

A 'Town Hall' meeting hosted April 7, 2022 from 7-9pm at the Cochrane Ranchehouse was well attended by Riverview residents eager for an update on current efforts to legally defend the Restrictive Covenant on Cochrane Golf Club lands. 

Attendees were brought up-to-speed on the history of Riverview development and the chronology of events that led up to a restrictive covenant put in place to prevent further non-golf related development. In a pre-recorded address, legal counsel outlined how things will progress procedurally from here forward, with an expected hearing date early in 2023. Drew Hyndman, from the Town of Cochrane, assured Riverview residents of the Town’s continued backing in this legal challenge and answered questions from attendees. Strong agreement prevailed that Riverview residents are committed to continue the fight to preserve this golf course community and Cochrane asset.

You can see a presentation recording by clicking this link

Find your lot on the RC

In this update, we provide links to the Restrictive Covenant schedule showing YOUR lot number as a "Benefitted Land' and a cross reference to a map.  Locate your lot on the map, note the reference letter (marked in pen), then find the reference letter in the Schedule in the link below. You can confirm your lot number by looking at your land title or your property tax statement.

Benefitted Lands Cross Reference (find your lot)

Registered Caveat and Restrictive Covenant (dated 27th of August 2007)

It is important to note that a restrictive covenant is normally registered on the "burdened lands,"  those being the golf course parcels A & B.  As the parcels pass from owner-to-owner the restrictive covenant (or burden) runs with the land.

Riverview Town Hall Information Session - April 7

A town hall-style information session will be held at the Cochrane Ranchehouse Theatre on April 7th 2022 at 7pm to 9pm. This is an opportunity for Riverview's 404 property owners to get up to speed with current efforts to legally defend the Restrictive Covenant that prevents the Cochrane Golf Club from further non-golf development. All community members are encouraged to attend.

An invitation / flyer was hand-delivered to all 404 Riverview residences on the weekend of March 12.  Please plan to attend and please encourage your neighbours to attend as well. We are all in this together and the burden needs to be shared by all residents because the benefit is shared by all.  There will be a 30 minute presentation, a video from our legal council, and a Q&A session. A Town representative will also be present.

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.