WOODLANDS COUNTY - Woodlands County councillors are one step closer to revising the municipality's Land-use Bylaw (LUB).
Councillors gave first reading to the bylaw during their Aug. 13 meeting, voting 5-1 in favour. Whitecourt Central Coun. Alan Deane, appearing remotely, was opposed and Whitecourt East Coun. Jeremy Wilhelm was absent.
In a separate motion, councillors set the public hearing date for Sept. 9 in Fort Assiniboine and Sept. 10 in the Woodlands County municipal building, specifically in the council chambers in Whitecourt, starting at 5:15 p.m. before the regular council meeting.
Planning services manager Joshua Raposo said the proposed draft is the result of over a year of work.
"We tried to engage the public over multiple sessions [including one in Fort Assiniboine in July] to gauge what they would like to see in a land-use bylaw," he said, adding councillors also had a chance to "shape" the document through several ad hoc committee meetings.
Raposo added that the administration also asked for input from neighbouring municipalities, First Nations, and provincial ministries.
He said that the municipalities and ministries expressed little concern, with the only comments being of a clarifying nature.
Proposed key changes
The draft bylaw formally establishes the creation of the subdivision and development authorities, aligning the document with Alberta's Municipal Government Act (MGA).
There is also a new clause that enables the chief administrative officer (CAO) to delegate authority to approve subdivisions of four lots or fewer to the planning and development department, allowing for quicker processing of minor applications.
The document consolidates similar districts, reducing redundancy, such as merging the A1 and A2 districts into one agricultural district.
The draft LUB also streamlines similar and overlapping land uses, condensing them to improve clarity and reduce complexity in interpretations.
The document, in most cases, will require residents to get a municipal permit before removing any trees on their properties and, in select districts, the permitted number of dwellings has also increased
A new clause also gives the municipality's development officer the authority to consider discretionary use permits, referring the more complex or sensitive applications to the municipal planning commission.
Administration also added a new noise exposure forecast (NEF) overlay district to the zoning map to incorporate noise exposure considerations specifically around the airport.
The draft LUB also includes sections on renewable and alternative energy, as well as an updated section on hazard lands, specifically regarding flood-prone areas, steep slopes and fire hazards.
Reeve and Anselmo Coun. Dave Kusch said the proposed bylaw purposefully omitted the lands in and surrounding the Whitecourt Airport.
"[Council] has had discussions about the need to have a detailed look at the land use and structures in that area," he said, asking if council has recommendations on possible changes, would they have to start the entire process over again.
Raposo said no, adding council could easily amend the document.
"What we would do is update any districts and any general regulations at the airport. It is a pretty quick process, once we've dialed in what we want," he said.
Kusch also asked how public input shaped the drafting of the Land-use Bylaw.
"It was quite substantial. We tried to take that information that we heard and craft something that balances public feedback with what councillors suggested through the ad hoc meetings," he said, adding that sometimes it meant administration revising and even removing sections of the document.
For instance, Raposo said administration removed a section detailing a co-operative district zone.
"It would have allowed larger businesses with more of a communal-style living, but we received overwhelming negative feedback. It wasn't what the community wanted, so we removed the section," he said.
Kusch said one of the concerns he has heard from the public, as well as others at the ad hoc council committee meetings, is about secondary suites and additional living spaces allowed on parcels.
However, he said, those concerns were unfounded, as any changes were mostly cosmetic and due to provincial legislative changes.
"We really are not changing much," Kusch said.
Deane said that, although he mainly supported the changes in the draft bylaw, he had concerns about the section on general land uses, specifically regarding the clearing of trees.
"In my opinion, the way it is written is not what we discussed at committee," he said. "In my discussions with residents who may want to clear or harvest trees, live in a highly dense country-residential area, as well as people involved in the [forestry industry], had questions that I could not answer. Given the sensitivity of this section and that it is new to our county and council, like the section on the airport, I would like to pull this out because it needs more consideration from council and more public engagement to come up with language that reflects what we are trying to do."
Deane then moved that they remove the section. The motion was defeated.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
