ATHABASCA - Another proposed amendment to Athabasca County’s Land Use Bylaw to expand a private campground was voted down by council last week — the second in as many council meetings.
A public hearing to rezone a parcel of land from agricultural to recreation commercial took place at council’s July 30 meeting and saw 16 submissions for, and 22 submissions against the amendment that would allow for the expansion of an existing 50-stall campground near Wandering River.
The submissions in favour spoke highly of the applicants and praised the management of their current campground, saying they were upstanding members of the community with a proven track record. Many also spoke of the economic opportunities the campgrounds bring for Wandering River and its residents.
On the other side, the submissions opposed to the change cited wear and tear on already lacking infrastructure, particularly the roads, concerns about the safety of local residents and preserving agricultural land.
The applicants refuted the opposition, saying they had video evidence that the traffic wasn’t as bad as some of their detractors had said.
After taking two hours to hear the submissions from both sides, councillors had a hardy discussion, which ended in a 4-4 vote to accept second reading of the amendment. With the tie vote, the application was officially rejected. Councillors Dwayne Rawson, Dennis Willcott, Doris Splane, and Warren Griffin voted to accept second reading. Coun. Travais Johnson was absent from the meeting.
A similar amendment was rejected for another application at council’s July 14 meeting, at which time councillors also passed first reading on three more amendments and will hold those public hearing Aug. 11.
At the July 30 meeting, council also passed first reading of three more applications to amend the Land-Use Bylaw and set those public hearings for Aug. 27.
Coun. Penny Stewart was opposed to first reading all on three and recommended taking a step back and maybe consider other areas of the county, to promote healthy growth and not put undue stress on Wandering River infrastructure.
“I’m starting to have concerns about these,” she said. “At what point do we listen to the ratepayers and their concerns and stop going through the hearings to hear the same old things? At what point are we as a county going to put a plan in place, up the ante and address the concerns that have come forward,” she asked her colleagues.
Coun. Splane referred back to the public hearing that took place earlier in the meeting, noting law enforcement and traffic on the roads were the concerns that came up again and again.
“If those are two issues we can deal with, I think we would have a lot more peace up there,” she said.
Coun. Willcott reminded council they were discussing the proposed amendment at hand and not the previously defeated amendment, and moved first reading.
Coun. Stewart asked if an external audit had ever been done in the area, saying it could be helpful to get to the bottom of some of the concerns, but she wasn’t comfortable moving forward until they had been resolved, or there was at least a plan in place.
Coun. Warren Griffin replied that while the same information and concerns may come up multiple times in multiple hearings, council has a responsibility to hear from the public on every proposed amendment.
“The whole point of having the public hearings on rezoning was to hear from the public to get their views, so council can make an informed decision and say no to a rezoning if that is the will of the people,” he said. “It is due process and every landowner has the same right to due process, and if the public has to write 500 letters for 500 public hearings, that is the process we are required by provincial law to follow.”
