The land that homes will be built on will be leased from the Tsuut’ina nation, in a similar manner to the type of leasing arrangements made for homes in Banff National Park, or in the University District in Calgary, said Robertson.
“We have taken some of the key clauses out of those successful land lease projects to make sure that everyone’s protected. Really what we want to know is what happens at the end? So, we have built-in mechanisms that I like to use the term of: no one leaves empty handed, and everyone’s protected and taken care of,” he said.
“At the end of this lease, your building either gets bought or the land lease gets extended. So we’re not looking for anyone to leave empty handed, and we’re not looking to displace anybody. But these are conversations for 99 years away.”
He said that in terms of taxes, the nation would be collecting a residential rate slightly lower than the City of Calgary.
Starlight said that the taxes collected from residents and commercial properties would be used for the developed area, through federal legislation for tax collection on reserve land.
“That’s a fairly long standing comprehensive regime. Today, we do have that regime in place as it stands now, so taxes are being collected for Costco and Buffalo Run, as well as from the dealerships up here and the nation Tsuut’ina and Taza both provide services to ensure long term maintenance of the project,” he said.
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