A decision on Rocky View County’s (RVC) new Land Use Bylaw (LUB) will have to wait a few more weeks after council voted to table the item.
Following a public hearing at a special council meeting June 25, Deputy Reeve Al Schule said it would be best to postpone second and third reading for the LUB to July 28.
“I don’t want to be rushing this,” Schule said. “I want to make sure we get this done right. Let’s give staff enough time to go through some of these amendments. We have worked really hard to get to this point.”
Schule’s motion to table the matter came after multiple amendments were proposed to the bylaw during the public hearing.
Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Al Hoggan said administration would compile all the amendments they received and complete the wording for them before the LUB is brought returns before council.
“That should complete the Land Use Bylaw,” Hoggan said.
The tabling motion was passed unanimously.
According to Sean MacLean, supervisor of Planning and Development, the new bylaw is meant to preserve current development and subdivision rights while standardizing, simplifying and modernizing regulations.
A number of people spoke both in favour and in opposition to the proposed LUB during the public hearing. Bob Williams, general manager of Calaway Park, said he appreciated updates to a proposed business recreation district in the LUB, which he said will “serve the county in every district.”
Janet Ballantyne also spoke in support of the bylaw, praising the County’s hard work in getting it close to finished.
“There is clearly a few glitches left, nothing is perfect,” she said. “I think overall the changes look good.”
She added there was a lot of public consultation that went into the development of the new bylaw.
“It’s really good to see how much of that input went into the changes,” she said.
Those opposed to the bylaw raised concerns with changes to zoning, impacts to the aggregate industry and variance for real estate signage.
Matthew McMillan, advocacy advisor with the Alberta Real Estate Association, said flexibility around real estate signs would be appreciated. Under the proposed bylaw, a permit process is required for variance to sign quantity and size, which McMillan said delays the process of moving properties.
“If realtors are unable to brand what they are selling, if they are unable to demonstrate to the local market, it becomes difficult to move,” said McMillan.
Coun. Kim Mckylor sided with one opposition speaker who said RV storage classification needs to be changed before the LUB is approved.
“I think we need to look at RV storage, because the county has a lot of them. It probably does need some special attention,” she said.
The new LUB has been in the works for almost four years, with the previous council approving a Terms of Reference (TOR) for the project in October 2016.
A comprehensive analysis of the LUB took place from 2016 until September of 2019, when the County released an initial draft. First reading of the updated bylaw was granted Jan. 28.
RVC also held open houses in October 2019 to receive feedback from residents. MacLean said the goal of the open houses was to ensure residents had a chance to raise any issues before moving forward.
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
