Wheatland County to provide feedback on growth management board

By Adelle Ellis, Times Reporter

The Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB) is moving forward, and part of Wheatland County is included in their plans.
The board released the “Calgary Metropolitan Region Board Regulation” to municipalities on Sept. 19 with the intent of receiving public comment and review of the regulations.
Alberta Municipal Affairs wants to know what the public thinks of the soon-to-be mandated Growth Management Board (GMB) for the metropolitan areas of Calgary and Edmonton.
When the proposition was originally given to the municipalities earlier this year, their intent was made to allow for a 60-day public consultation period. Now, with the late arrival of the written regulation and a time crunch of having information gathered before municipal elections on Oct. 16, the public has been asked for written feedback to be received by municipal affairs by Oct. 2.
Wheatland County council reviewed the information on the regulation during their Sept. 19 regular council meeting. However, having only received the regulation earlier that same morning, Wheatland County staff and councillors felt it was premature to fully discuss the regulation before having a chance to go through it.
Staff and councillors alike were concerned about the short 13-day deadline to pull together comments and questions regarding the CMRB regulations.
“I agree we need to review it and staff needs to review it … to be honestly blunt, if we have another meeting we’re wasting time. We’re not going to change anything,” said Councillor Ben Armstrong.
Members of the public concerned with the regulation were also requested to submit their comments to Alberta Municipal Affairs by Oct. 2.
“I guess I’m a little concerned,” said Alan Parkin, Wheat County chief administrative officer about the short timeframe. “How does that give the public an opportunity to put input into it? At the very least I think we want to post it on our website and let the public know they need to comment on this to the province of Alberta. Because this is a big issue, it’s a big concern. There’s pros and there’s cons to it,” he said.
A portion of Wheatland County is included in the area plan, including the industrial area to the west of Strathmore, Cheadle and the Eagle Lake area just north of Namaka.
Parkin informed council that Wheatland County staff would be doing a full review of the regulation and would be making comments on it.
Councillor Brenda Knight made a motion to direct staff to post the regulation on the Wheatland County website for the public to view along with a map of the affected areas and an explanation of the upcoming deadline.
GMB’s are intended to ensure effective and efficient regional collaboration and coordination decision-making. Part of the GMB’s mandate is to promote long-term sustainability of the region; ensure environmentally responsible land-use planning, growth management and efficient use of land; promote the economic well-being and competitiveness of the regions; develop policies regarding the coordination of regional infrastructure investment and service delivery; and develop policies outlining how the board shall engage the public on the growth plan and service plan.
Several parts of the regulation added as notes to outline the sections of the Municipal Government Act that apply to GMB’s include the fact that “… Municipalities must not take actions that conflict with or are inconsistent with the growth plan. If the municipality does so, the Board can order the municipality to stop as the growth plan prevails over municipal statutory plans …” among other things.
It is also noted that each participating municipality has one vote, and for a GMB vote to pass, two-thirds of GMB member municipalities must vote in favour. The municipalities voting in favour must represent at least two-quarters of the region’s population.
“I would really like a meeting with the council to go through this. This is really important. It is going to impact greatly on Wheatland County and to just let it slide by saying ‘we can’t change anything.’ But if we don’t speak up we will never change anything,” said Councillor Alice Booth.
Knight made an amendment to her original motion to hold a special council meeting on Oct. 2 at 9 a.m. to discuss the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board Regulation.
Information relating to the plan, a full draft of the review, area map and comments form can be viewed at wheatlandcounty.ca by searching Calgary Metropolitan Region Board Regulation Review.
“I encourage you to talk to your ratepayers as well and let them know to comment because it does affect that strip of landowners in that area,” said Parkin.