County reviews subdivision development appeal board bylaw

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wheatland County is looking to remove redundancies in its subdivision development appeal board bylaw, as well as improve ability to secure enough members for the body to fulfil its functions. 

Amendments to the bylaw were presented before council during the July 8 regular meeting. Stefan Kunz presented that several sections of the bylaw mirror the content of the Municipal Government Act, while others require clarification.

During his presentation to council, he drew specific attention to areas of the bylaw regarding telecommunications, signing, membership, flexibility, and having an ad hoc membership.

Amendments to the bylaw were initially introduced before the Committee of the Whole, Nov. 19, 2024. At the time, proposed changes focused on revising board membership criteria, as well as board compensation. 

County administration was directed to further explore adjustments related to residency requirements and the minimum number of board members required for the body to function.

Among the proposed amendments, the revised bylaw would broaden membership eligibility from exclusively landowners to also include residents of Wheatland County.

As the Province of Alberta has removed municipal codes of conduct through Bill 50, the section of the bylaw referencing the code of conduct is now irrelevant and unenforceable. Administration recommended simply removing it from the document to further reduce redundancy. 

As land developers are technically eligible to serve on the Subdivision Development Appeal Board, Coun. Rick Laursen raised a concern that while not explicitly excluded, ethically they should remove themselves from any hearing involving their own interests in order to prevent a conflict of interest from arising. 

Similar concerns were noted during the meeting regarding potential bias from realters, who would also be expected to exercise the same discretion.

The subdivision development appeal board, under the amended bylaw, would maintain an absolute minimum membership requirement of three. In an instance where this is not able to be met, or during a hearing, if enough members to drop the board below three would have to excuse themselves from the discussion due to a conflict of interest, ad hoc members or “pinch hitters” to fill requirements would be required to be on standby to fill in when necessary. 

Chief Administrative Officer, Brian Henderson, added the bylaw amendments are not pertinent for council to pass immediately, and administration is not in any particular haste. 

Council voted to pass first reading of the bylaw amendments and directed administration to bring further revisions of the bylaw before council again in August to receive second and third readings. No specific date was set during the July 8 meeting.