Wheatland-Kneehill intermunicipal development plan approved
By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wheatland County and Kneehill County have a new plan to work together on decisions around their shared border area – but amendments proposed by council in response public concerns were not incorporated, at least for now.
The counties have adopted a new intermunicipal development plan (IDP), a document required by the provincial law governing municipalities outlining how land use decisions around their borders are coordinated.
According to Amber Link, Wheatland County reeve, by authoring a land use document together, Wheatland and Kneehill counties ensure the continuation of a collaborative relationship.
“This collaboration is regional cooperation at its finest,” said Link.
The plan establishes how the counties must collaborate if land use or development changes are proposed in lands around the counties’ shared municipal border, which follows Highway 9 through much of the west of the plan area, and traces the Rosebud River Valley in the region’s east.
The plan focuses on lands referred to as the plan area, which mostly is comprised of a section of land on either side of the border, but which extends to 2.5 kilometres from the border in some areas. The total land area of the region is 19,640 hectares or 48,532 acres.
Section 4.2.13 of the IDP states that all discretionary use applications within the plan area, where no approved ASP (area structure plan) or ACP (Alberta community partnership) is in place, shall be referred to the adjacent municipality for comment prior to a decision being issued. ASPs are long term land use planning documents for a defined area, such as a village.
Two locations within the plan area have ASPs. The first is the Village of Rosebud, for which an ASP was passed in 2016.
The other is the Badlands Motorsports Resort ASP. This planned 425-acre development includes a racetrack and accompanying recreational, residential and commercial developments. The lands of the proposed resort are therefore governed by Kneehill County’s ASP for the development (Kneehill County Bylaw No. 1597), which was approved in June 2013.
The Kneehill/Wheatland County IDP received first and second reading by Wheatland County on March 24, 2020. During the public hearing portion of the meeting, members of the public voiced support for the ecological significance of the Rosebud River Valley and spoke against the approved Badlands Motorsports Development.
In response, Wheatland County Division 6 Councillor Glenn Koester suggested amendments to the plan. Specifically, he proposed a change to Section 4.2.13, to remove provision, “where no approved ASP or ACP is in place.” This would have required either of the counties to ask for comment from the other for all discretionary use approvals throughout the entire plan area, regardless of whether an ASP exists.
“There’s nothing wrong with letting us know when it’s right on our border, when our physical infrastructure is impacted and our environmental concerns,” said Koester during the March 24 meeting.
Another amendment was proposed to a section pertaining to the area’s natural landscape, under Section 2, to include a statement recognizing that 4,000 acres of the Rosebud River watershed are under conservation easement agreements, as well as that “conservation efforts continue in the area,” rather than “some conservation efforts exist in the area.”
Wheatland council then directed staff to request an intermunicipal committee meeting with Kneehill to discuss the amendments, according to a report by Wheatland’s administration.
However, during the Wheatland County council meeting on May 19, council was informed that Kneehill County Council had already passed their own bylaw to adopt the IDP, and that they were not willing to discuss amending the IDP further.
Kneehill County passed second and third reading of their respective bylaw relating to the IDP knowing that Wheatland County’s public hearing was still open, said Koester during the May 19 meeting.
“Now they don’t want to change anything because they have already done theirs,” he said. “I don’t like being treated like that.”
There are regular review periods for the IDP, so amendments to the plan could be proposed when it is next brought to council. “Because it’s a living document, I don’t have a problem moving ahead with it,” said Division 7 Councillor Ben Armstrong during the meeting.
Link also voiced support for passing the plan but amending it in the future, during the meeting. “We have some feedback that we need to work to try to integrate into the document, and I know our administration has assured us that they will continue to work with Kneehill administration, and as those reviews take place I hope that feedback will be taken into consideration,” said Link.
Wheatland County council then approved the plan as it was originally worded, in a 6-1 vote, with Koester voting in opposition.
Badlands Recreation Development Corp. has received the necessary provincial environmental approvals to construct the Badlands Motorsports development. It received Water Act approval on Jan. 9, 2020 to infill two wetlands, modify three wetlands, and implement a stormwater management system at the site. Then on Feb. 27, the proposed stormwater system was issued registration as an activity under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.
Kneehill County council made a recommendation on Jan. 28, 2020 to its municipal planning commission to approve the Badlands Motorsports Resort applications to subdivide to create separate lots for different racetracks. Then, Kneehill County moved on Feb. 25 to proceed with the Badlands Motorsports Resort Development Agreement.