High River Toyota will not be putting down new roots north of Okotoks.
With a 4-3 vote, Foothills County turned down an application that would have seen the dealership relocate to the corner of Highway 2A and 322 Avenue, just north of the Town of Okotoks and existing dealerships Okotoks Honda and Okotoks GM.
Council had given first reading to the application in February pending investigation of transportation issues with Alberta Transportation and development in the Highway 2A corridor with the Town of Okotoks, and due to an advertising error by the Western Wheel a second public hearing was required prior to moving forward.
After the hearing on Sept. 16, High River Toyota general manager Greg Woodward said he was disappointed by the decision after working with and being put off by the County since last August.
“It’s disappointing that we waited this long for a decision to be made,” said Woodward. “We really thought we had a good proposal to work with the residents in the area. We tried to address all their concerns.”
Some of those concerns included sound attenuation, screening with trees and landscaping, ensuring lighting met with the County’s dark sky bylaws and covering the costs of highway intersection improvements like putting in traffic lights pending Alberta Transportation approval, and developing test-drive routes that would divert customers to the highway rather than residential roads in the area.
However, those efforts were not enough for the County residential property owners who spoke out in opposition of the development citing increased traffic and noise, a potential rise in crime and visual impact of the business during both public hearings.
Coun. Alan Alger, who represents Division 5 where the application was located, said he heard those resident concerns loud and clear. He made the motion to deny further readings of the land-use redesignation for the Toyota dealership.
“It speaks to the passion of the rural lifestyle,” said Alger. “I don’t believe one acreage between a major business like a car dealership and another acreage is enough of a buffer.
“I would argue there’s a larger impact on the area than visual with a business of this magnitude.”
He acknowledged arguments the dealership would fit into the area because of existing businesses along the corridor, including two dealerships, the SAVE veterinary clinic, StorageMart, Edison School and the Okotoks Farmers' Market, but said the increased traffic would be significant compared to those businesses.
“This corner is going to develop, but they’re (the residents) going to fight back on everything,” said Alger. “They don’t want the lights and obtrusive building and traffic, and a 30-foot (inflatable) gorilla holding a for-sale sign on Saturday afternoons.”
Coun. R.D. McHugh agreed, stating there are many other locations in the County that would be a better fit for the Toyota dealership.
“There are wonderful locations for this operation within the municipality that already exist without the transportation issues and access issues and residential issues,” said McHugh.
However, Coun. Delilah Miller saw things from a different perspective, noting the corridor is not strictly a residential area with other commercial development already in place. She questioned whether residents would have preferred to see a dealership there or one of the other possible businesses outlined in the current land-use, which could range from a hotel to industrial operations.
“This area certainly is slated for that type of development,” said Miller.
She added part of the job of elected officials is to look out for not only what’s best for their area residents but for the County as a whole. Having a major commercial endeavour like Toyota would broaden the tax base for Foothills, she said.
“I’m constantly being berated by residents of the high cost of their taxes and what are we going to do to reduce them?” said Miller. “Then we get an application like this, having commercial and industrial would be a way to offset some of the burden on residential taxpayers.”
While she admitted there could be other locations in the municipality for Toyota to look, Miller said there are other implications involved such as the ability to acquire land and whether other locales make financial sense for the business.
She wondered whether the business would look elsewhere in the County if it’s current application was turned down.
The sentiment was shared by Coun. Rob Siewert, who said it’s important to look at the bigger picture and what turning away Toyota could say about the municipality.
“We did give them first reading and if we now yanked the carpet out from under them then it does certainly send a signal to other business that they have no certainty when they apply at Foothills, and I would hate to see that kind of reputation happen,” said Siewert.
Woodward said he’s not sure where Toyota will go now – but the business definitely needs to move. It has outgrown its current High River location, which he called dated and in need of renovation. The decision was to relocate to a larger facility rather than update the smaller building it inhabits now.
The proposed location had been an ideal spot, because it was situated in the middle of the dealership's client base, which is primarily from Calgary to High River, he said.
“There are other opportunities for us,” said Woodward. “I don’t know if Foothills is the spot.”
He said the frustrating part was waiting for nearly one year and going through two public hearings to be turned down so far along in the process.
It will be back to the drawing board with new applications, as the drawings and specs in the Foothills application were specific to the Highway 2A location, he said.
The facility would have been a $10-million investment in the County with a company that is conscious about its environmental impact, he said.
“We’re actively looking at other locations, whether it’s at Foothills or wherever else,” said Woodward. “It stings, but we’ll pick up and move on. We’ll find something else that’s going to fit the bill and away we go.”
