Proposed Swan Valley development causes controversy
The city of Swan Valley could be getting a new development, but it comes with some controversy.
The possible new “Centre at Rainey Creek” development will be located on 23 acres of land at the corner of Highway 26 and Highway 31. It will include a grocery store, community services buildings and homes.
“On this side of Rainey Creek [the side closest to the Highway 26], it will be the commercial area and there’ll be a grocery store here, a market,” Shane Fleming, Developer for The Centre at Rainey Creek, said. “Beside that, some community services building which will be a series of commercial buildings available for lease. And then further down there’ll be bay homes which will have two level bays with parking for RV’s, boats ect. And then lofted apartments above.”
The other half of the property will include more homes.
“The plans are to put a pedestrian bridge across Rainey Creek you see here in the background,” Fleming said. “On the far side of the creek, we plan to build town homes. It will be 12 twin town homes, so 24 units.”
Some are worried about the consequences of this development. Some say people feel the location of it will ruin the wildlife around Rainey Creek. Fleming says they’ve heard those complaints and have a plans to address those issues.
“We are going to leave the creek area itself untouched or setback from the creek, 75 feet from any of our buildings,” Fleming said. “We plan to put some natural parkways and a pedestrian bridge across and really create a parklike environment here.”
We were told there are many against this development; however, when those people were asked to go on camera, they did not want to do so. The Swan Valley City Council will be discussing this development at their meeting tomorrow night at 7 pm at the American Legion Hall.
