Balancing residential requests and agriculture

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

The discussion whether land should be used for urban or agricultural uses frequently comes up in planning decisions considered by Wheatland County staff and council.
The county’s regional growth management plan vision statement states that it will promote sustainable well-planned development, which enhances and protects existing agricultural land and natural areas, but setting a goal and attaining that goal can be difficult when it comes down to dealing with property owner’s rights.
“There is always going to be a conflict between urban and rural,” said Councillor Tom Ikert at the Sept. 18 Wheatland County council meeting.
Council was discussing an application by landowner Cody Hayes over the approval of a re-designation of 4.6-acre parcel from agriculture to country residential, leading to a young rural family setting up a home on the property. Hayes said the applicants who want to purchase the land were good candidates to contribute to the community, with backgrounds in education and fire services. The property has a well, and all the necessary reporting required by the county had been done. Hayes pointed out that re-designating the piece would not significantly impact agriculture, as it currently provided only about five bales a year and that would decrease to one or two bales should the house build be approved.
Two adjacent farmers, Shane Palleson and Merv Harwood, took exception to the plan, stating it would affect how they perform spray applications on adjacent land, and questioned whether the land would be subdivided in the future or sold to owners who would not understand farm practicalities.
Councillor Jason Wilson indicated the decision should be based on the property itself and not on who will live there. There was also the comment made that council can’t control who purchases a private landowner’s land.
Council voted to accept the re-designation despite two council votes opposed.
“It is a challenge for multiple reasons. The real challenge is maintaining a balance,” said Councillor Amber Link.
Balancing agriculture and residential needs for rural sustainability has been studied in the province.
A report released from the University of Alberta Land Institute in November 2017 examined farmland conversion and fragmentation in Alberta and found there was a 52 per cent urban land increase along the Calgary-Edmonton highway corridors. There was also a larger conversion of natural lands in Alberta to cropland. The report found population growth, the increased price of agricultural land, road density and fragmented properties, as well as land unsuitable for farming were reasons for conversions.
However, some of the land deemed high in agriculture production potential was situated around the borders of the main cities in Alberta.
There was a survey done with the report and 80 per cent of the respondents said they wanted to preserve agricultural and natural lands, to the point they would be willing to pay a one-time contribution into a conservation fund.
The Conference Board of Canada did research into the economic contributions of rural communities in 2012. Research found population growth in rural areas was significantly less than urban, but rural economic contributions were significant to urban areas of the province. It expected the moderate population growth trend to continue in rural areas, but attention needed to be paid to aging populations, where distributions of the elderly demographic were becoming greater than urban counterparts.
The report stated: “Any plans to ensure prosperity for rural Alberta must include the attraction and retention of people as a top priority. This is a key ingredient to the sustainability not only of Alberta’s rural communities but of all rural communities across Canada and across the developed world. But it will take more than jobs to attract people. Communities that also offer a high quality of life will be the most successful … quality of life includes a long list of items, including access to health care, access to education, access to high-speed internet, public safety, and vibrant arts and culture.”
The Alberta Land Institute also released a paper on property rights, which outlines what rights Alberta landowners hold. The report states that the development of regional management boards was to set up good guidelines that take individual landowners concerns into consideration, while balancing policies that create positive outcomes for the community and the management areas as a whole.