Burnco is proposing to vastly expand its existing gravel pit just west of Cochrane corporate limits adjacent to Hwy. 1A into a 425 ha operation.

Preliminary information was provided at a sparsely attended Apr. 17 open house that calls for the extraction of gravel to occur in various stages over a 30-year period. It would be located immediately south of Hwy. 1A and runs from just west of Horse Creek Road to just beyond Range Rd. 52. Part of the Stoney Nakoda Nation lies just to the south.

The current aggregate operation along Hwy. 1A, labelled as part of phase 2 of the six-phase development.

In their presentation, Burnco said they are in the early stages of site planning for inactive parcels surrounding an existing smaller operation and hopes to have a development permit in place sometime in 2019.

Burnco is proposing to continue its 24-hour operation from Monday and Friday, according to the presentation.

It's currently extracting gravel in stage II of their proposed six-phase project and the bulk of the future stages are on land requiring rezoning from Rocky View County.

The project has raised a red flag with Mayor Jeff Genung and he says the town will be closely monitoring the project and providing input. Top of his mind, he's initially concerned with traffic, dust and the potential impact upon the town's water supply.

"It's all proposed at this time, but it's something that is going to affect our community directly so we're very interested in the outcome."

He says town council will be discussing the proposed project at one of their strategy sessions or at a council meeting.

The town received short notice of the meeting and two representatives of the town's planning department attended, says Genung, including Drew Hyndman, Senior Manager of Development Services.