Strathmore and Wheatland County have officially been released from the provincially mandated Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB), as of March 31.
Both municipalities sent letters to Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver last year, requesting to be removed from the regional growth management board. They have since expressed they are happy with the decision.
Rocky View County (RVC) mayor, Don Kochan, weighed in, saying he is pleased the minister honoured the two municipalities’ requests to be removed.
“There are high costs associated with participating in the CMRB, and if our neighbours do not feel the benefits of participation outweighed those costs, their wishes should be respected,” Kochan said.
“We will continue to collaborate with our regional neighbours to achieve the best possible outcomes for our respective residents whether they are members of the CMRB or not.”
Strathmore Mayor Pat Fule said there weren’t many discussions within the CMRB meetings that impacted Strathmore, and many staff hours were spent examining reports and plans that were not relevant to their town.
Both municipalities were clear that their distance from Calgary, their relatively small populations, and the costs associated with membership made their continued participation less practical than for other members of the CMRB.
“We're that much farther away than many of the communities that border Calgary,” he said. “There's just a lot of situations that really don't have a bearing on Strathmore.”
Other than their water supply coming from Calgary, Strathmore and Wheatland County don’t have a lot of common concerns with members of the CMRB.
Not wanting to jeopardize the growth plan for communities surrounding Calgary, Fule and Reeve of Wheatland County Amber Link waited until after the plan was approved to request to be removed.
“It does give our planning department and our Town a lot more freedom and flexibility in pursuing different industrial sites, industrial developments, and different projects that might be coming,” Fule said. “We don't have to go through the process of having it analyzed by the CMRB.”
Both Fule and Link believe there is a lot more for them to gain in regional planning and regional partnerships with each other and Siksika First Nation. Strathmore is located within the geographical boundaries of Wheatland County, which is located east of Rocky View County.
“There could be some really exciting things in our region and we're really happy. I wish the CMRB nothing but good fortune,” Fule said, adding that the board makes sense for the communities around Calgary.
Link explained that Wheatland County has explored the possibility of strategically investing in servicing the western side of Wheatland that was part of the CMRB and endeavoured to create a business-friendly environment for investment.
“We have invested in re-branding and an economic development program which has generated great interest; however, there has been hesitancy from investors within the County’s [development plan] due to our membership within the CMRB,” Link said, adding that leaving the board streamlines these processes and removes red tape.
Wheatland County’s approved plan, The West Highway 1 Area Structure Plan, encompasses most of the portion of the county that was part of the CMRB. The plan provides for effective development processing, engineering, landscaping, environmental, and economic considerations, Link explained.
Both municipalities thanked McIver for his decision to remove them.
In a March 28 press release, McIver agreed the CMRB’s plans for growth in the region largely do not include Strathmore and Wheatland.
“Continuing without them just makes sense,” he stated.
Moving forward, the remaining CMRB members are the municipalities of Calgary, Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks, High River, Cochrane, Foothills County, and Rocky View County.
“The minister himself communicated his commitment to regional planning and said that the remaining eight members will remain part of the CMRB and will continue to work with him and the members to finalize the growth plan where we're going to target growth for the next million people that move to the region; focus on economic development; try creating a tremendous place to live; and a strong investment climate in a way that is far more cost effective and environmentally conscious than we have previously,” said Greg Clark, CMRB chair.
“It's actually a pretty exciting time to have that clarity from the minister that we're going to be the eight going forward together.”
The CMRB was established in 2017 to help ensure regional collaboration and coordinated decision-making.
