To the Culshaws, their quarter section on Sylvan Lake was a quiet piece of paradise.

The route in was just a machinery road, not even a proper county gravel road. The farm near Sunbreaker Cove was secluded and close to the lake, a perfect location for the organic farming business that Sylvia Culshaw runs with husband, Douglas, and which produces beef, chicken, oats and barley.

“We bought this because it was a very, very secluded quarter. Not any more,” said Sylvia on Tuesday from the farm. “I can’t believe how much development there has been in 20 short years. They are moving in all around us, son of a gun.”

The Culshaws were even more dismayed when they saw what was proposed in Lacombe County’s draft Sylvan Lake Area Structure Plan.

“They are slating high-density development right at the end of our quarter or right beside it. And I’m a little upset,” she said.

A new road would also cut across their land eventually, if the plan goes through as written.

The Culshaws’ concerns, though, go far beyond their small corner of the county. Sylvia fears for the lake itself.

“Sylvan Lake, people don’t realize that it’s fed by springs. If they start drilling a whole bunch of wells to feed all these people, Sylvan Lake is going to dry up.”

The county is aware of area concerns that too much development too soon will destroy one of the province’s best lakes. A two-year development moratorium is proposed after each influx of 2,000 residents to allow their impact on the lake to be reviewed.

That’s not long enough, she said. “If you develop an area, within two years you are not even going to know how that is going to affect the lake.

“That’s way too short a period. Holy cow. Even five years is too short.”

Also, since the first proposed development is relatively small, Culshaw fears it will give a false impression of the amount of impact that larger scale development will have on the lake. The plan anticipates 8,500 new residences would be introduced in phases in coming decades, adding 21,000 people to the area.

Sylvan Lake Mayor Susan Samson holds no illusions about the stakes in play. And she’s concerned.

A formal letter has just been sent to Lacombe County and the other municipalities around the lake — five summer villages and Red Deer County — urging a joint approach to the area structure plan through an intermunicipal development plan.

That plan would look at the cumulative effects of all proposed development, potential impacts on water quality and quantity and involve reviews of boat access, traffic and all the other issues that must be taken into account with a future potential population the size of a town.

While setbacks, environmental reserves and water quality checks are all proposed in the area structure plan, it is less clear who is going to oversee and police that.

“That’s not to say we’re not going to allow development. But we have to monitor development and we have to make sure it’s right and it’s not impacting the lake because if we hit the tipping point, there’s no turning back and all of us are going to suffer.

“And quite frankly the risks are greater than the Town of Sylvan Lake is prepared to take on without addressing it.”

The timing of the area structure plan couldn’t be worse, she said.

Summer villages held their elections only recently, introducing new faces who may not be up to speed on all the issues. Municipal elections are slated for October, putting the county’s self-imposed deadline for passing the area structure plan by the elections on a very tight schedule.

Samson understands that the county has spent a lot of time and money on the area structure plan and wants to see it completed.

“But I’m suggesting this is not the document, this is not the program that should be rushed because there is far too much at stake.”

Lacombe County Reeve Terry Engen said Sylvan Lake’s letter has been received but he was reluctant to say too much because council has not had a chance to discuss it.

An intermunicipal development plan was proposed years ago but there was not unanimous support and the idea was dropped in favour of the looser Sylvan Lake Management Plan, which outlined guidelines for development rather than detailed regulations.

“Whether the council has an appetite for it now, I don’t know,” Engen said.

“Certainly (Mayor Susan Samson’s) intent is valuable. I’m not sure we could ever get to that point with eight communities getting together and having a legislative plan. I don’t know if that is possible.

“Certainly it will have to be something that council will have to look at again.”

Engen said council has heard concerns that the moratorium period after each bloom of development is not enough and will consider all of the input received.

pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com