Calgary Herald Article - Town of 5,000 Proposed

Town of 5,000 proposed near Rockies
Setting made famous by Hollywood

Robert Remington, Calgary Herald

Published: November 11, 2006

A new town of 5,000 people could spring up in a breathtaking setting 80 kilometres west of Calgary made famous by a skinny-dipping scene in the movie Brokeback Mountain.

The Municipal District of Bighorn recently received a draft development proposal for a picturesque area at the former company town of Seebe, which was sold in 2003 by electricity supplier TransAlta Corp. for $11 million to developer Moondance Land Co. and the Stoney Nakoda First Nation.

Seebe's 17 small houses were also sold, and carted away last year after the province ruled the hamlet's buildings were of no historical value.

The Stoney-Moondance proposal for the 220-hectare site, known as the Horseshoe Lands, is for a town of 3,000 residences accommodating between 5,000 and 5,500 people on the prized banks of the Bow River with spectacular views of the nearby mountains.

"It is gorgeous land. The view across the escarpment on the Bow River to Mount Yamnuska is world class," said Dene Cooper, reeve of the M.D. of Bighorn.

If approved, it would be the last available developable land in the Bow Valley region, where resort golf courses and million-dollar homes have transformed the nearby former coal-mining town of Canmore into one of the most desirable communities in Alberta.

The proposed townsite includes cliffs along the river at Seebe that were featured in the movie Brokeback Mountain when two cowboy lovers, played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, jumped naked into the water, turning the secret swimming hole for locals into a tourist attraction.

Although barely on the drawing board, there are already fears the new town could accommodate big box retailers such as Wal-Mart, which until now have been effectively shut out of Canmore.

In 2004, Canmore restricted the size of commercial buildings to keep big box stores out of the pristine mountain setting.

But the proposed new development at Seebe includes 32 hectares of commercial and industrial land that could accommodate a Wal-Mart or a Canadian Tire.

That, however, is unlikely to happen, according to John Third, a spokesman for Moondance.

"The site is big enough, yes, but we've had no discussions with those people nor would we until the plan is approved. Frankly, I don't think they would build at Horseshoe. A Canadian Tire or a Wal-Mart can't survive in a market base of 5,000 people," Third said.

A big box store on the former Seebe site could, however, draw from the 13,000-strong Canmore market, 30 kilometres away, and attract customers from the B.C. towns of Invermere and Golden.

Ron Casey, the mayor of Canmore, said any big box development on Canmore's doorstep is a concern.

"It would obviously have an impact on local businesses. They already suffer a lot of leakage to Calgary."

Although skeptical of big box stores in the proposed town, Cooper did not reject the notion. The M.D. is insistent that the proposed town have commercial development so it doesn't become solely a bedroom community for Canmore and Calgary.

"This is a very, very unique community in a unique setting and I am convinced that everything that goes in there has to sit with the concept of a special place and special community. I'm not sure big box stores can do that, but I'm not ruling it out," Cooper said.

The draft plan for the new townsite was tabled by the M.D. of Bighorn council on Tuesday. It will come back for consideration next month, where it could receive first reading before going through an approval process.

The M.D., which has a current population of about 1,300 in five hamlets, has already signalled its desire for the new town.

"We are anxious to do it well. We are very aware that it is the gateway to the Bow Valley and understand there are neighbours with an interest in what is going into the area," Cooper said. "What I like is the accessibility of those lands to the public. Previously, they have not been accessible."

Cooper said major hurdles include water availability and a regional sewage system.

Under provincial regulations, no more water can be drawn from the Bow River, which the love-struck cowboys from Brokeback Mountain plunged into with bared buttocks. But a river 250 metres below the surface that is not subject to provincial water licences is already being tapped by the M.D.

"It isn't very wide but there is a lot of water in it," said Cooper.

The M.D. has spent $450,000 on three wells in Exshaw and Dead Man's Flats. Two have been unsuccessful but one at Exshaw has yielded "very high quality water in unbelievable volumes," Cooper said. Experts are confident a fourth well at Dead Man's Flats, at a cost of $150,000, will be as productive as the successful Exshaw well.

Isolated by 170 metres of clay, the underground river is free of surface contamination and requires little treatment, potentially resulting in water treatment savings of $30,000 a year, Cooper said.

Cooper said environmental considerations for the proposed townsite include reserve lands with connectivity to nearby Bow Valley Provincial Park and preservation of slope lands along the river.

"I feel there is a sensitivity to the environmental space that is there," Cooper said.

Third says access to the town would be via an extension of Kananaskis Trail (Highway 40) through Stoney-Nakoda land. The current access to Seebe is on Highway 1X over a one-lane bridge too narrow to accommodate traffic to the proposed new town.

The Stoneys previously announced plans for a casino at the junction of Highway 40 and the Trans-Canada Highway that was the subject of a lengthy legal battle between the Stoney Nakoda Nation and three elderly sisters laying ancestral claim to the land. A court ruled against the sisters earlier this year. The $40-million complex is expected to include a 90-room hotel, water park, swimming pool, fitness centre, health spa, conference centre, 170-seat restaurant and 175-seat lounge, 300 slot machines and 15 gaming tables.

Cooper envisions nothing similar at the proposed new town, which he says could develop as an artists' colony.

"I see it set up around a town centre with a bakery, a small store operation. I could see it blossoming into a community for crafts and artisans."

The proposed new town does not yet have a name. It could retain the name of the abandoned TransAlta hamlet of Seebe, but that could change.

"Smarter and more creative minds than mine can decide if it needs a new name," Third said.

Perhaps there could be a contest. Given Alberta's penchant for colourful names like Dead Man's Flats and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, and considering the location's already famous exposure in Brokeback Mountain, maybe we could call it Naked Butt, Alberta?

"Well, a lot people used to swim there, sometimes naked," Cooper said.

© The Calgary Herald 2006

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