Issues: A 23 lot housing subdivision is proposed on 100 acres of ranch land at the east gate of Waterton Lakes National Park. On March 12, Cardston County Council passed third reading of a bylaw which rezoned the land from agricultural to grouped country residential. If this subdivision proceeds, others are expected to follow. County Reeve, Broyce Jacobs, (now MLA for Cardston-Warner-Taber) maintains the majority of residents in the Mountain View area are in favour. An Environics poll in early March found 69% of County residents wanted Council to refuse the rezoning or delay decision until more details are known. Opposition to the rezoning also includes conservation groups, the Municipal District of Pincher Creek, Alberta Environment, Waterton Lakes National Park, the Blood Tribe and citizens from across Alberta and Canada. What does this decision mean for a natural heritage of international significance and for adjacent communities? What is the desired future and who should help define it?
Speakers: Locke Marshall is a lifelong resident of Cardston County. He has a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Lethbridge. Locke has worked in tourism-related jobs for Parks Canada, for private businesses in Waterton Lakes National Park and for the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre. He currently lives near Mountain View with his wife, Paula, and four children.
Craig Smith was borne and raised on a ranch in Cardston County. In the 1980s, he received a Masters in Environmental Design from the University of Calgary and worked for several years in the private sector as a wildife biologist. Eleven years ago he returned to the family?s home place near Hill Spring where he ranches with his wife, Mary Ellen, and five children.