Proponents of a multi-million dollar development near Hinton are suing the provincial government after Sustainable Resource Development removed their land lease due to a lack of activity on the property.

Marie Laframboise, project director of Cougar Rock, calls the government’s decision ‘garbage.’ She claims the province broke an agreement when it didn’t let Cougar Rock purchase the land, which was a condition of the lease they signed in 2003.

“We’ll reapply and we’re planning to sue,” Laframboise said. “We’ve sunk a lot of money into this.”

The province notified Cougar Rock on April 7 that as of March 29, their 25 year leases on the government property have been cancelled. Cougar Rock now has six months to apply to be reinstated on the lease, which would require a new contract. Laframboise said Cougar Rock is planning to re-apply.

On 1,120 acres of land by the Hinton airport, the proposal would have built two professional golf courses, a five-star hotel and more than 600 condos on the land, which would have been sold as vacation homes. A hot spring would have been tapped underneath the property, and brought to the surface. The hotel alone would have been a $200 million project, and one of the golf courses was by top designer Thomas McBroom. The condo plans were scaled back, as the area structure plan allows for 5,000 homes. But without the land, the project wasn’t able to move ahead and the development is in limbo.

SRD spokesman Dave Ealey said there wasn’t enough happening on the land, so the leases were cancelled.

“With a lease, there is an expectation the people will do something with them,” Ealey said. “The government was supportive of the application, but we expect to see progress, otherwise people can land-lock the land.”

After the six month period, other investors can approach the province for the land, which still has an area structure plan that will allow for a major tourism development.

After negotiating the lease in 2003, Cougar Rock originally attempted to purchase the land in 2007, but were turned down. According to Laframboise, as soon as that happened, SRD re-assessed the land and tripled the pricetag. She said the province continued to put roadblocks in front of the development.

“Every time we turned around, they were changing the rules,” Laframboise said.

Ealey said he isn’t aware of any problems SRD may have caused delaying development of the site.

SRD said the conditions of the lease were not being met, as there was not enough activity and the lease prohibits time shares.

“Seven years is almost a third of the lease,” Ealey said.

Laframboise doesn’t believe that, as the development had already submitted plans for the golf course, completed water and sewer work, archeological investigations and several other requirements. They even purchased Folding Mountain campground in 2007 to house construction crews, and had received letters of support from surrounding municipalities.

“We thought we were going to break ground then,” Laframboise said.

But since they couldn’t purchase the land, there was no way to begin work on the development, Laframboise said.

“You can’t build the golf course without the land,” Laframboise said. “You cannot develop anything without the land!”

Ealey said the government typically doesn’t sell its land for commercial tourism activities, but does use the lease system. In that situation, the government has the right to terminate the lease at any time.

Cougar Rock proposed a lease agreement similar to Jasper National Park, where each condo owner would enter into his or her own lease with the province. However SRD rejected that bid, stating it was too much paperwork and too cumbersome.

Laframboise called the move tragic for the northern corridor, noting how development in the Calgary-Banff area is not similarity stifled. She also thought it was tragic the government wouldn’t let them purchase the land for a tourist resort, however it allowed a coal mine near Hinton to purchase more than 100,000 acres to expand.

Ross Risvold was a minority shareholder in the development and blames the provincial bureaucracy for the death of the project.

“Some of the bureaucrats didn’t want to see it go ahead,” Risvold said. “They threw up obstacles and said certain conditions weren’t met.”

He cites the golf course as an example. Cougar Rock hired a professional designer who had built several courses to put together the course and submit an application. However the province rejected the designer’s plans.

He blames a philosophy within the government that didn’t allow it to go ahead, even though the province had previously identified the area as a node for development.

Hinton Mayor Glenn Taylor said from an economic development standpoint, the project would have been beneficial to his community.

“Having three golf courses makes us a destination, between Hinton, Jasper and Cougar Rock. It would have also supplied jobs for the area.”

He also stated AUMA has let the province know its displeasure with the lack of communication between ministries.

Hinton town council sent a letter of support to the provincial government stating it was in favour of the development. Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland said the town wrote a letter stating it had no objections to the development.

Yellowhead County Mayor Gerald Soroka said he was never asked for a letter of support by the developer, even though the county was the development authority.