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Jumped the gun

Just prior to Christmas, town council invited MLA Glenn van Dijken to a meeting to discuss their woes concerning the “Schneider lands” next to Highway 33. Specifically, the Town of Barrhead wants dearly to develop the two parcels totalling 14 acres.

Just prior to Christmas, town council invited MLA Glenn van Dijken to a meeting to discuss their woes concerning the “Schneider lands” next to Highway 33.

Specifically, the Town of Barrhead wants dearly to develop the two parcels totalling 14 acres. The town had once considered placing the Barrhead Aquatics Centre on one of those parcels, and the Barrhead Community Garden was given  a spot on the second nine acres as a temporary location.

Coun. Don Smith commented during the Dec. 11 meeting that the town apparently wants to develop those 14 acres and place some major chain enterprise like a Boston Pizza.

Smith also suggested that attracting such a major chain was apparently the wish of Barrhead residents, though he didn’t go into great detail about how often that request was being made.

As is so often the case with developments that lie adjacent to a major highway, the obstacle to this theoretical development is Alberta Transportation, who will not allow a direct access road to be built off of Highway 33.

It was suggested at the meeting that Alberta Transportation had some fear relating to high traffic coming off of the highway. That’s somewhat understandable, given that vehicles tend to speed up during that long stretch coming into Barrhead.

So after hearing all of this, we have to wonder: did the town jumped the gun when they ordered the Barrhead Community Garden to vacate their current location in July?

Because it kind of feels like that’s exactly what’s happened.

Development is certainly important to the local economy, and council may be correct in saying that attracting some kind of major chain store or restaurant to Barrhead would be a “game-changer” for the town.

But until proper access is granted or a buyer is secured, was it really necessary to kick the Community Garden out of their current location to make way for future development that may never happen?

Town council might have felt it was better to give them marching orders sooner than later, but the community garden could have at least stayed in place for at least for another year and planned to move in a more leisurely fashion, which as it turns out is basically what has happened.

It would be more understandable if there was a favourable second location for the community garden, but that in itself has been kind of a boondoggle. The first two potential locations for the garden have proved unsuitable, and in October, the County of Barrhead started expressing doubts about donating in-kind work to help get the garden moved.

Is the far-flung possibility of a Boston Pizza on the way into town worth all of this trouble? Maybe you feel like it is, but we definitely have our doubts.

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