October Recap
Thank you for your interest in our advocacy. I'm here to give you a recap of the events over the past week or so, if you don't want these updates - please let me know.Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Saturday, October 15:
Crystal and I attended the Place Matters event put on by Vivo and Parks Foundation Calgary. Thank you to everyone who met with us and shared their thoughts on where we should take our advocacy.
Crystal was just in the area returning a library book and then joined in on the community bus tour.
Coventry advocate talked us through the development of a now popular basketball court for the community teenagers.
Presenters before the bus tour.
Harvest Hills HUB community project. This project took 5 Years and $300,000 in fundraising.
Monday, October 17:
We met with Melcor and Urban Systems to learn more about the developments in the Nose Creek Valley they are working on. They were generous with their time and provided more information for us to consider
They informed us on the advancements their teams are doing in stormwater catchment. They showed us the work they've done south of Country Hills Blvd is both functional and a great creation of community space. Through this engagement, we do see an opportunity where the burden of maintenance of the spaces they created could be Province or Federal Government, if we are successful with our Park designation.
One of the issues that I wasn’t aware of is the properties right next to the creek already have utilities infrastructure to them; so a lot has already been invested in the site. Our thoughts coming out of this meeting is since it’s already roughed in, How could our advocacy influence the future tenants? Perhaps it could be a good spot for an indigenous interpretive center or museum. These uses would definitely have less likelihood of having runoff waste into the creek and also could possibly teach as well.
3. From our time at council a few weeks ago, Melcor might entertain fair market offers or possibly consider a land swap, if it's advantageous to do so. We've seen this occur in the past with Nose Hill or even most recently with Paskapoo Slopes. If the City or Partner Organization were to purchase one or more of the parcels in green below closest to the Creek for preservation or even to create a facility for the Nose Creek Watershed Partnership to meet and monitor and teach. The complication that we are seeing in our advocacy that is different than a Nose Hill or Paskapoo Slopes, is the numerous landowners that would be involved and needing to be negotiated with.
4. Another important piece of information that came out of this meeting is the City has a 10% Greenspace rule for developments but that rule can be offset by “money in lieu.” We are going to be talking with City Councillors to ensure that this 10% rule is followed as developments move northward and maybe we can find a nice balance in those developments - where a combination of the environmental buffer and the 10% greenspace could create a proper greenway along Nose Creek.
Tuesday, October 18
I met with Clint Goodman and Mayor Peter Brown from the City of Airdrie. Clint is Airdrie’s Corporate Environmental Specialist and Representative on the Nose Creek Watershed Partnership. He is going to get Save Nose Creek invited to the next Watershed Partnership meeting next Thursday. Clint said there is a project that is a few years away from completion that would provide the tools to know exactly what type of land-use will affect the creek at what capacity.
Mayor Brown will try to get Save Nose Creek scheduled to speak before the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB) some time in the near future.
Peter's advice was we need to ensure we understand what projects are underway with Biodiversity and Watershed teams and how to utilize them. Pointing to the as our terms of reference on the Science side of our advocacy. Which we hope to get more insight from at the Watershed Board meeting on Thursday.
Wednesday, Oct 19
I had a meeting with Cllr. Penner to further discuss our advocacy with her and her Ward 11 team. Cllr. Penner suggested that we need to utilize the City's Biodiversity board. (This is Similar to the advice that Cllr. Mian gave us last week.)
Cllr. Penner suggested working with other organizations like Friends of Fish Creek and the Weaselhead Preservation Society - and new groups like ours and the Save Richardo Ranch Efforts to work and collaborate with the Biodiversity team to see what they can present to council as recommendations.
What's Next
Next week we hope to be presenting and collaborating with the Nose Creek Watershed Partnership.
We are hoping to have a meeting with some members of the Siksika Nation we've been talking with next week, so hope for some nice weather.
How Can You Help?
Forward this post to your friends and family in Airdrie, Rockyview County and North Central Calgary.
Sign up on our website for future updates.
We've been given the suggestion that we should start a foundation. We are looking for a volunteer who is passionate about setting up a "Preservation Society" structure like this with us.
If you live near Nose Creek and are interested in becoming a Save Nose Creek Champion (Door-Knocking, Events, etc.) for your Nose Creek Adjacent Community, please let us know. (We realize not everyone is on social media, and want everyone to know what we are doing.)
Write your Representatives and tell them you want a Provincial or Urban National Park from Calgary to Airdrie along the Nose Creek Valley.
Also, if you want to read our Official Park Proposal and provide more feedback, we would love to hear it!
