A vacant lot on Eighth Avenue in Cochrane is up for rezoning… and at least one couple in the neighbourhood is fighting it.
Town Hall has posted its intention to rezone the land from R1 – low-density housing – to R2, or higher density housing.
Erin Trusz and her husband John are objecting to affordable housing going up there.
“It’s going to bring down the value of all of our homes, statistically,” says Erin Trusz. “They also have some other plans in the works. There’s talk of them building a medical clinic there. It’s going to completely change the neighbourhood. We have no problem with people building houses across the street, but to bring in that amount of people, our residential area’s going to become quite busy very quickly.”
Mr. and Mrs. Trusz will be at a planning meeting in two weeks to voice their concerns, which include increased traffic and crime.
“We’re really hopeful that the town’s going to change their minds and that this won’t go through.”
For the town’s part, director of protective services Richard Vallée says R1 actually allows up to six apartments per building. He is quick to add that nothing is proposed yet for the four-acre site. The rezoning will simply increase the number of options for development.