Westlock County administration has proposed new amendments to the Land Use Bylaw that would allow for more development to reduce red tape.
Council’s Strategic Plan “speaks to capitalizing on opportunities and advancing economic diversity and growth that will provide the foundation for our communities to flourish.” as written in the Red Tape Reduction and Investment Readiness briefing notes at council's Committee of the Whole meeting June 10.
Red Tape Reduction
The proposed amendments would allow certain developments to not require a permit. This includes: construction, upgrades or resurfacing of private driveways where drainage is not altered, construction of agriculture buildings for operation on agricultural district parcels, uncovered patios or decks, small portable accessory building or seacan for temporary use during construction of an approved structure and the construction of accessory buildings to a certain size as long as it meets the councils size and criteria.
The update would also include more duties for the Development Officer who is currently only allowed to decide on development permits that are labelled “permitted” in the applicable land use district. Whereas all discretionary applications are submitted to the Municipal Planning Commission (MPC) that meets one to two times a month. However, this new amendment would allow the Development Officer to have more power over the decision of discretionary applications. This would streamline the process and have fewer applications go through the MPC.
During the Committee of the Whole meeting, Coun. Sherri Provencal made it clear that she is on board for streamlining the process but “... we got to make sure that we still do it right. So I just want to make sure that there's some sort of a safeguard in place that maybe there's a second pair of eyes on it or something”
Coun. Isaac Skuban added his concern for residents. “We can have people [that] they built something without a development permit and not really fully understand the scope of what they're going to be assessed at,” he said, adding that he would feel more comfortable moving forward with public consultation.
Investment readiness
The administration has added that having shovel-ready commercial and industrial sites would benefit and streamline infrastructure growth. By handling the infrastructure planning, area structure plans and zoning land, businesses would be able to develop their ideas faster, only having to go through the development permit process.
To do so, the MPC has identified areas the county could invest in that are close to transportation, utility infrastructure, other municipal services, social and community services. The County council is being asked to narrow their area focus. Administration has set The Deloitte Study underway to decide which areas are best to be prioritized based on economic development potential. Another study is recommended that examines the economical cost for the areas.
The county would need to ensure that a planning framework in place before allowing potential investors to develop the area. This would include making an area structure plan that would “lay out a vision for the area and the future land use, transportation and servicing (water, wastewater and stormwater) and address things like phasing development, site design, physical form of development and design guidelines.”
Part of this plan involves assessing the financial impacts of this process. While no specific numbers were given, the briefing notes suggest that this process improvement “may encourage more businesses to locate in the County, thereby increasing the non-residential tax base.” This would have significant impacts on taxpayers as it would allow the County to reduce residential taxes and see fewer barriers in development.
The Committee of the Whole accepted the report as information and has directed administration to bring it back for further review with the revisions provided by the councillors.
