Rocky View County (RVC) council will be taking a third look at the proposed Stormwater Off-Site Levy Bylaw at a meeting schedule for April 26, where the item will be presented for third reading. First reading was passed on the bylaw in January, and second reading carried with opposition from Councillor Rolly Ashdown on April 12.
“During the discussion, council was deciding whether they wanted to give it third reading on that day, or if they wanted to do some extra consultation, and I think that will again be the discussion when it is brought back,” said Byron Riemann, manager of Infrastructure and Operations with RVC.
The bylaw will establish a base levy of $5,486 per gross acre on land located on the county’s east side, and will be necessary to fund the county’s portion of the construction of a stormwater plan for the area.
The plan was developed through the Co-operative Stormwater Management Initiative (CSMI), a collaboration with the Cities of Chestermere and Calgary, Wheatland County, the Town of Strathmore and the Western Irrigation District (WID).
“This bylaw has been crafted from the strategy that was created from the CSMI work,” Riemann said. “The main reason it hasn’t received third reading yet is because council is trying to get comfortable with the strategy, because it is kind of a big number. It’s also fairly new, so it’s not an anomaly that it hasn’t gotten third reading yet.”
Despite the “big number,” Riemann said the levy will only impact further development in the areas indicated on the map, which can be seen at rockyview.ca in the “Bylaws Under Review” section. The levy will only be applicable to land located on the east side of the county, where he said stormwater management is much needed.
“There has never been a series of infrastructure that can appropriately deal with stormwater there,” he said. “The whole area is very flat, so we are dealing with a lot of trapped areas without many overflow opportunities.”
While developers will be primarily impacted by the new bylaw, Riemann said residents will see benefits from the off-site levy in the form of increased overflow opportunities to help stormwater drain in a “timely manner.”
“Storms like that (in July 2015), they will still create some damage, but having this infrastructure in place will help deal with some of that extra water,” Riemann said. “Areas that will gain benefit from the infrastructure that will be built as a result of this levy, those will be the leviable lands.”
Council has been mainly in support of the bylaw, which was tabled after receiving second reading earlier this month. Councillor Rolly Ashdown, however, whose area is heavily impacted by the levy, raised some concerns.
“Once you collect levies, you’re done. You can’t do it again,” he said. “I think it’s incomplete.”
The Stormwater Off-Site Levy Bylaw is scheduled to be back to council April 26.
