Rocky View County council rescinded the need for conceptual schemes for seven development applications in the Bearspaw area, June 8.
The applications are for infill residential developments of between one and 15 lots.
Rocky View staff determined there would be limited benefit to the schemes and the cost of doing them would be onerous.
The move will save the applicants money.
“For the average resident to go out and do a concept scheme, that is a big process,” said Julie Verch, communications coordinator at Rocky View County. “It costs a lot of money and they have to do a lot of studies.”
Conceptual schemes come before redesignation and subdivision stages of the development process and are used to judge the impact a project would have on surrounding communities.
They generally include about one quarter section of adjacent land and include costly technical studies on lot layout, traffic, water and sewage as well as school and recreation plans.
Applicants are expected to work within an area structure plan and must co-operate with their neighbours to create the planning documents.
In these cases, council determined the impact of the proposed developments did not warrant the time and money required to complete the necessary studies.
Instead, studies will be conducted during the redesignation and subdivision stage.
“This is an attempt to streamline the process,” said Robert Coon, Rocky View County Chief Executive Officer. “It doesn’t negate the need for technical information.”
According to Councillor Greg Boehlke, the decision was made to clear up the applications, which have been dormant for several years.
“Bearspaw is an example of a beautiful place to live that wasn’t planned very well, now we are trying to fix that,” said Boehlke. “They were just nonfunctional concept plans.”
