The property owners of an unfinished golf course in Canmore are hoping the community will participate in creating a new vision for the lands into the future.
The golf course, which had 15 holes in an almost completed state in 2006, is the second one originally envisioned for Three Sisters Mountain Village, with Stewart Creek being the other.
But the lands fell into a state of disrepair after the development company went into receivership under PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2009.
Former owners Blair Richardson and Don Taylor came forward in 2013 with an offer to purchase the company and its holdings and since that time, along with QuantumPlace – Three Sisters’s development coordinator – the future of the golf course has been re-evaluated.
Earlier in February, QuantumPlace consultant Jessica Karpat indicated that TSMV had come to the decision that another golf course is not financially viable and an alternative use for the area is in the works.
But in order to change those plans, the area structure plan for Three Sister’s resort centre, originally approved in 2004, needs to be amended.
Changes to the plan still need to be determined, but Karpat said it is the property owners’ hope that a process to obtain community feedback on the former golf course lands will occur alongside work currently happening for Smith Creek.
“There is a collective Smith Creek process underway as we speak,” she said. “There has been some good success with the community advisory group, which represents a number of different perspectives from the community.”
A sub-group has been formed out of the advisory group, Karpat told council earlier in March, that will help find a solution for the golf lands.
The plan is that council would consider a new area structure plan for Smith Creek at the same time it does an amendment to the resort centre ASP.
Development and planning coordinator Mitch Braun with QuantumPlace told council that through the process of looking at the unfinished lands in Three Sisters – sites 7, 8, and 9 now referred to as Smith Creek – there were questions about the future of the golf course even though it is outside that area’s boundary.
“Canmore residents were quite interested to know what would happen with the unfinished course and expressed a desire to be involved in a solution for those lands,” Braun said.
He said golf as a recreational pursuit is on the decline in North America and as a result completing another course in the area is economically unfeasible. Braun said updated wildlife science is showing that soft edges adjacent to wildlife corridors can compromise movement and functionality – and golf courses are considered a soft edge. He added addressing undermining has also improved.
“We have been able to determine the extent to which undermining occurred on the golf course lands and the area structure plan lands,” Braun said. “The technologies involved with mitigating those undermining issues, in terms of development on top, have improved.”
Karpat said information collected about the lands and the extent of the undermining on it has increased since 2005 with bore holes being drilled. As a result, the map of the undermined area today is more up to date than what was used in 2005.
“We are continuously improving that data through bore holes and more modelling and engineering work that has been done,” she said.
The paste technology used in the early 2000s has also improved, she said. Paste is concrete foam that is used to fill in spaces underground that then solidifies. It was used extensively on the school site for Our Lady of the Snows.
Karpat told council that in changing the golf course lands, they have decided to consider the lands east of Three Sisters Creek for an outdoor recreational opportunity and the lands west of the creek for development.
“Right now we do not have a solid idea of what exactly we want to propose (to the east),” she said. “What we want to do is work with the subgroup to develop ideas, hear concerns and try to come up with a solution just like we are doing with the Smith Creek process.”
The resort centre lands to the west of the creek are still intended to become a health and wellness resort, which includes hotels, amenities and retail services, said Karpat.
“The vision has not changed,” she said. “The only thing that has changed in our minds is the viability of the golf course, so we would like to find a solution for that land.”
Karpat said TSMV is proposing a joint environmental study for the two different areas – Smith Creek and the Resort Centre lands. Karpat said while different areas, the approach to wildlife should be consistent with each other.
“We believe the approach to mitigation and wildlife should be consistent between the two areas,” she said, adding working collaboratively will avoid unnecessary duplication of research.
