BARRHEAD - County of Barrhead councillors received a snapshot of what residents had to say about proposed amendments to the municipality's land-use bylaw (LUB) and changes they would like to see as part of the multiple public engagement sessions the municipality has hosted during the "What We Heard Report".
A handful of people were also in the public gallery to hear the presentation.
Development officer Jenny Bruns walked councillors through the report, encapsulating residents' comments from seven in-person events, a public survey, and the April 2 council meeting.
Bruns said for the What We Heard report, administration staff divided the comments received directly related to the draft bylaw via the survey and public engagement sessions into 13 categories, including tourism accommodations, alternative energy, event venues, cannabis, data processing facilities, recreational vehicle storage and related facilities, real property reports and percentage of site coverage, animal units on non-agricultural parcels, bylaw enforcement and right of entry questions, sea cans, permitting of farm accessory buildings and dwellings per parcels.
The report did not mention an 'emergency meeting' on the bylaw organized by a separate group held at the Barrhead Legion Feb. 27 which saw more than 300 people attend, expressing concerns and circulating a petition about the bylaw. The petition stated that the County of Barrhead's LUB did not meet the needs of its citizens, that it should not be changed without extensive consultation, and that they should "scrap" moving forward with any changes until that consultation took place.
Tourism accommodations and agri-tourism
For tourism accommodations, Bruns said most comments received were concerns about running a hotel in residential neighbourhoods and excess traffic, dust control, noise, and road parking.
She added that the municipality had added section 10.29 (Tourism Accommodations) to the LUB to help address or alleviate those concerns.
The section covers topics such as setting the maximum number of guests, requirements for on-site parking, and safety regulations.
Bruns added residents did not voice any concerns regarding agri-tourism. However, she noted that the bylaw refined many definitions to address potential nuisance issues, such as parking and noise.
Event venues
Bruns said many of the comments they received about event venue properties mirrored those they collected about tourism accommodations in that they were about nuisance issues such as increased traffic, dust control, and noise, i.e., that there needs to be a minimum distance between the venue and area residences.
The report also notes that residents voiced concerns about road maintenance and protection from trespassers.
"We added a new category [Section 10,15] in the land-use bylaw to address concerns about these types of nuisance issues," Bruns said
Cannabis
According to the report, most of the comments the municipality received about cannabis centred around prohibiting the areas of sale and use of the drug from high-population areas and limiting marijuana growing facilities to industrial parks. The municipality also received multiple comments saying they did not want cannabis in the county.
Again, Bruns noted this category is a new addition to the land-use bylaw, and regulations mirror those of federal legislation regarding setbacks from schools and public facilities and areas.
"[The sections on cannabis] are really just following the federal legislation," Bruns said.
Alternative energy and data processing facilities
Bruns said the municipality received a wide variety of comments about alternative energy farms, especially solar and wind installations, but the one theme that was the most consistent was the need to protect productive farmland.
"We also received comments saying that we should go nuclear instead," she said.
Bruns noted that the sections regarding alternative energy mirror those of higher governments, this time the province, protecting productive agricultural lands. He added that the sections distinguish between commercial operations and installations for residents' personal and farm operation use.
Bruns also said the draft bylaw includes a section about data processing facilities such as those for mining Bitcoin.
She said the county received relatively few comments about this type of facility, and those they did receive stated that the facilities belonged outside of agricultural areas.
"The section drafted for [data processing facilities] deals with nuisance concerns because they are quite loud," Bruns said.
RV storage and RV storage facilities
The county only received two comments about RV storage, one regarding the number of units per acreage, while the other had to do with RV storage facilities stating that they shouldn't be allowed on good quality agricultural lands.
Bruns noted that the proposed amendments specifically address RV storage rules on smaller lots in a residential district, especially around the lakes.
Under Section 10.23.2, the maximum number of RVs a property can have for lots smaller than two acres is one; the number increases to two for lots from two to just under six acres, and residential lots larger than six acres can have three RVs.
Real property reports and grading plans
Bruns said comments on real property reports were mainly favourable. They ranged from how grading and tree removal around lakes and rivers had to be closely monitored to the importance of riparian area preservation.
Dwelling units per parcel
The draft bylaw includes an amendment allowing a second permanent dwelling in cases where the parcel is 150 acres or more if the additional home can be easily subdivided.
Again, Bruns said comments they received were generally favourable, saying it was a good idea as it would allow multiple generations to stay on the family farm.
Sea Cans
Bruns said again that most of the comments received from residents about the proposed favourable changes to the municipality's sea can regulations dealt mainly with adding parameters to deal with unsightliness.
Comments included that sea cans are great for storage, and as such, the number allowed shouldn't be limited; and while they agreed with the necessity that policies be in place governing keeping sea cans from becoming unsightly, the requirement for a certain colour or that it needed to match that of the main residence was problematic.
Permitting farm accessory buildings
Another one of the proposed amendments in the draft land-use bylaw is to require larger farm accessory buildings over 500 square feet to be permitted.
"A lot of people said it makes sense if one had a larger structure, but we received many comments that it should exclude grain storage or non-permanent buildings," Bruns said.
Animal units on non-agriculture units
Bruns said the county received several comments regarding the proposed dog and animal units in the draft bylaw.
She noted that animal units, i.e., livestock animal limits per acre, only apply to Country Residential and Residential Recreation districts. For the most part, the limits remain unchanged, with the exception of increasing alpaca numbers from one to four.
For household pets, Bruns said that in the proposed land use, the number of dogs allowed increases to four, which is up from the current three.
Comments on the proposed dog limit ranged from the current limit of three being too many to the limit should be expanded for agricultural parcels to help in predator control.
She added that they also received a few comments about increasing the number of animal units allowed per acre in non-residential areas.
The municipality creates the reports following major public engagement sessions. The report and a revised copy of the LUB will be available on the county's website.
The public will also have another chance to voice their opinion on the revised document at a public hearing, as councillors officially gave it its first reading later in the meeting.
As with the other public engagement sessions, the municipality will inform residents of the date and location through various methods, including the newspaper, municipal website and social media platforms, and the Barrhead and Area Crime Coalition (BARCC) messaging system.
Although council did not set the public hearing date, county manager Debbie Oyarzun said it would likely be in mid-May to early June to give the municipality ample time to notify residents.
Under Alberta's Municipal Government Act (MGA), municipalities must approve a land-use bylaw. At a previous council meeting, Oyarzun noted that it is common practice for municipalities to regularly review all their bylaws to ensure they are still relevant at about five-year increments; the last time the county reviewed the land-use bylaw was in 2010.
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