What the Covenant Means

The basic premise of the Covenant is to legally guarantee that any future development on the property must utilize a completely integrated design. A design that must address conservation, environmental protection, the creation of green space, leading infrastructure design, water conservation, green building design and the opportunity to contribute towards a remedy for entry level housing considerations. This covenant will be registered on the title of the land when the land is brought into the City of Fernie. This will ensure that no matter who owns the land, it must be developed as agreed upon in the Covenant. THIS IS A LEGAL DOCUMENT THAT CAN BE INFORCED AND MUST BE FOLLOWED!

Would you like to see the full legal document?

This document ensures that:

A permanent conservation covenant, through an organization such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada or equivalent, will be put in place over approximately 16-18 acres of the Lizard Creek Riparian Zone and associated area.
The total protected green space will amount to at least 50% of the parcels land area. This will be public green space, being provided at no cost to the City of Fernie.
The Cedars will pay for satisfactory Environmental Studies as outlined in the Covenant.
The Cedars will pay for a satisfactory Water Management Plan that provides mechanisms to use less potable water and create less waste water. The Water Management Plan must also provide a plan to deal with all rain and storm water on site.
The Cedars, again at its own expense, must also provide and implement a trail development plan that links existing City of Fernie pathways to the property and Mt Fernie Provincial Park.
The Cedars, at its own expense, will grant a covenant to the City requiring the retention of a 30 metre tree buffer along Mt. Fernie Park Road and a tree buffer parallel to Highway #3.
Belay Enterprises LTD will make available at least one acre of land for the City of Fernie, priced at 50% of market value at the time of transfer. The land or its proceeds must be expressly used for some form of affordable housing. The City will have five years to make a decision.
All residences must be constructed to meet at least ‘Built Green Alberta’ silver standards for site, design, and construction; or the equivalent Built Green BC standard when they come into being. These standards produce buildings that are 30-40% more efficient than conventional construction techniques. Visit Built Green

This covenant became necessary when the council expressed concerns about how they could be sure that this potentially new part of the City would be developed utilizing the design concept that they endorsed. Their experience told them that with a change of ownership often came a change in design concept. They were willing to support Belay but only if we could guarantee, that regardless of who owned the property, the design concept would remain the same. The covenant satisfies these concerns.