County discusses local hamlet designations

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wheatland County Committee of the Whole discussed local hamlet designations during the May 13 meeting, with the goal of eventually adding additional clarification to the formal designation.

In the fall of 2021, Wheatland County council passed a resolution directing administration to conduct a review of all county communities for the purpose of determining which qualify for the hamlet designation according to the Municipal Government Act. 

Administration was to provide council with a recommended list of individual communities to be formally designated as hamlets by council resolution. 

At the time, council’s interest in hamlet designations was linked to provincial, as well as other grants available to small communities for municipal servicing infrastructure. 

The requested report was presented before council during the Nov. 22, 2022 regular meeting. At the time, council accepted the hamlet designations report as it had been presented and directed administration to bring forward information to a future Committee of the Whole meeting with possible actions regarding the previous report. 

Under the Municipal Government Act, an unincorporated community may be designated as a hamlet if the community consists of five or more buildings used as dwellings, a majority of which are on land parcels smaller than 1,850 square meters, the community has a generally accepted boundary and name, and contains parcels of land used for non-residential purposes. 

The Municipal Government Act does not specify how a municipality must designate a hamlet. Previously, Wheatland County communities have been designated as hamlets by bylaw, however this has not been a consistent practice. 

An example of this includes Cheadle, which does not have a specific bylaw designating it as a hamlet but does have an adopted Area Structure Plan – adopted bylaw – which refers to it as the “Hamlet of Cheadle.”

County administration presented the committee with two options for consideration, being either to maintain the current status quo and keep the existing inconsistent, somewhat unclear designations, or to create a new bylaw which would be singularly definitive listing the hamlets within the county’s borders. 

Passing such a bylaw could repeal previous specific bylaws and would provide consistency and clarity for council, administration, local businesses and residents of such communities. 

Following the report, administration was further directed to bring forward a Request for Decision regarding hamlet consideration with a community engagement plan for future council consideration. 

Additionally, administration was directed to investigate current Government of Alberta infrastructure funding programs, application requirements, and any contemplated changes, or additional programs in regard to designated hamlet communities. 

It was not indicated during the Committee of the Whole meeting when precisely the Request for Decision would be brought before council.