CMRB interim growth plan seeks member approval

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

The Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB) has developed an interim growth plan for its 10 municipal members to review and return, so it can finalize the growth plan for the regional area.
If accepted, the various municipalities will update their land use bylaws and municipal development plans to include the terms of the agreement. This may prove a bit tricky for Wheatland County, as only a part of the county is within CMRB boundaries.
The plan states that it is to provide high level guidance and policies on regionally significant topics. It also lays out significant corridors in the regional area.
CMRB has until 2021 to develop a long-term growth plan. Committees, made up of members from the regional partners, have met to develop the interim plan that includes some of the important issues around sustainable growth, resiliency and water resources. The plan makes mention of consideration to treaty lands owned by First Nations peoples and recognizes that each partner comes to the table with unique characteristics that need to be negotiated in the plan. The plan will look at the location, scale and type of development covered under the CMRB.
Any of the members’ municipal statutory plans prior to January 2018 will be grandfathered into the new plan, but after that, statutory plans will have to be amended to come into compliance with the accepted CMRB growth plan. It affects municipal development plans, inter-municipal development plans, area structure plans and area redevelopment plans.
Federal and provincial policies and regulations supersede the plan.
It will integrate planning of infrastructure and land use, optimizing existing infrastructure. The draft plan promotes higher density and intensity development and use of community nodes, accommodating and protecting transportation and transmission corridors.
Under water resources, it will conserve water and protect quantity and quality of drinking water, with an understanding of preserving ecosystems. All floodway property development will be prohibited with no permanent structures allowed, but allow floodway use for things such as agriculture, recreation, utility lines or roads.
It covers community services and facilities support, and will determine the scale and cost-effective land use in context of the communities served.
In Wheatland County, importance will be placed on the stance on intensification of development, new and expanded areas allowed, the rules around county residential designations and employment planning.
Area farmers may take exception to intensified development in the CMRB corridor. While there was no mention of agricultural designations in the plan, Wheatland County Councillor Tom Ikert said it would be up to the county to protect its agricultural interests. He sits on the CMRB land use committee.
“We on the land use committee have wrestled with a definition of agricultural land. The definition is completely different if you talk to an urban (person) or a rural (person). The urbans want absolutely no development on agricultural land, until they annex it, then it is game on. For the urbans, the easiest development is green space (completely undeveloped land),” said Ikert.
“It comes down to whether the government has the right to tell me what to do with my land. This sentiment is far stronger in the country. I think the best we can do is control the premature sub-division of land.”
Ikert said country residential approval will stay the same unless a developer proposed 50 or more subdivided parcels, and then it would have to go to CMRB for permission to proceed.
“The pressure to fragment (subdivide) land will be entirely on the west side of the county. The old real estate adage is location, location, location,” said Ikert. “We will lose agricultural land in the process, but that is inevitable. No one is forced to sell to a developer; we still live in a society where a willing buyer needs a willing seller. Not lost in this long-winded answer is the premium the county puts on agriculture and agricultural land. The county realizes that agriculture is the backbone and we support it 100 per cent.”
Ikert said 92 per cent of land in the county is agricultural, but it only brings in 7.5 per cent of the county’s revenue. He said the county deals fairly with farmers and ranchers.
The guidelines in the CMRB plan under inter-municipal development may be beneficial, as it sets out considerations that should be met in developments affecting shared municipal boundaries, and advocates mediation and engagement processes. In the past, some of that has not occurred with development just over boundary lines. Also, the plan to connect to transportation networks may prove beneficial in the future for commuters.
The requirement to connect to municipal or franchised water and waste water services may affect those looking to develop in places that don’t have those services, but eliminate problems where developments were built with no access to proper water and sewer service.
The cost-effective clauses in community and facility references may mean more partnerships will be needed for building facilities such as schools, libraries, arenas, fire halls, health centres, playgrounds and recreational facilities. New builds in areas with a population of over 500 people need to have employment opportunities and community facilities, and access to existing or future transit and transportation networks. However, a clause was added that if a municipality cannot guarantee the requirements, they can make an appeal for a waiver if they have good cause.
Hamlets will have to intensify development in their downtown core areas and accommodate more types of buildings.
Wheatland County has a major highway and transmission corridor and they may have to justify when they want to cross right-of-ways or access the corridors.
The plan commits to finding a regional water solution for all member communities which may mean a future connection of utility services.
After the plan is accepted by members, a public engagement process will begin with open houses.