Mountain View County council has approved the terms of reference of a new inter-municipal development plan (IDP) with Rocky View County. The move came by way of motion at the recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
The terms of reference will be used to guide the development of the IDP between the municipalities in accordance with new requirements outlined in the updated Municipal Government Act.
Under the act, all municipalities are required to adopt IDPs and inter-municipal collaboration frameworks with neighbouring municipalities.
The plans will formalize the working relationships between the municipalities.
“The aim of the IDP is to cultivate a respectful and consistent approach to matters of mutual interest along our shared border,” the terms of reference state. “With the IDP, the counties shall formalize their existing spirit of inter-municipal cooperation and establish a process that ensures future land use and development is coordinated comprehensively.
“The document will allow for planning to occur in a way that is compatible with the surrounding area, and it will allow collaboration concerning physical, social and economic development within the plan area.”
The official plan area will be determined through the development of the plan. The plan study area is one mile on either side of the municipal border except at Highway 2 where it is increased to two miles.
The plan’s overall goals touch on areas such as future land use planning, water and watersheds, public communication and consultation, joint projects, and administration.
The joint projects goals will include “to identify, examine the feasibility of, prioritize, and create policies that support inter-municipal projects of mutual interest or need," and include the following:
- Identify inter-municipal roadways and alignment of corridors with the potential for future upgrades.
- Identify areas impacted by the provincial transportation network in order to develop a common and inclusive approach when engaging with provincial regulatory agencies.
- Identify areas or circumstances where mutual planning for utilities, regional and local transportation infrastructure, pathways, and/or recreation may be beneficial in conjunction with the inter-municipal collaboration framework.
The future land use planning goals include the following:
- To ensure long-term compatibility of future land use within both municipalities that includes the identification of development constraints such as provincial highways, pipelines, oil and gas developments, contaminated lands, utility corridors, historic resources, and intensive agricultural operations.
- To ensure that agriculture continues to be the dominant use of land in the IDP area, and to encourage and support the preservation of agricultural land.
- To develop transition policies that address the interface between land uses in proximity of the municipal border.
The administration goals include the following:
- To define each municipality’s responsibility and commitment to circulate and take into consideration the comments received when making land use, subdivision, and development decisions.
- To establish the administrative process to coordinate and communicate regarding projects and initiatives that may influence the plan area.
- To address the MGA requirements with respect to inter-municipal conflict resolution, amendment and repeal procedures, and plan administration.
- To establish a communication process that ensures ongoing dialogue and allows for future amendments to the plan.
Council also passed a related motion appointing councillors Dwayne Fulton, Greg Harris and Reeve Bruce Beattie to a review committee to oversee the plan’s development with councillors appointed by Rocky View County, which is located south of Mountain View County.
Council also received the proposed inter-municipal collaborative framework terms of reference as information.
Goals of the framework would include providing "integrated and efficient funding and delivery of inter-municipal services; optimize the delivery of scarce resources for providing local services; ensuring municipalities contribute equitable funding to services that benefit residents; and highlight, and if necessary, formalize existing collaborative work between adjacent municipalities."
In other council news, councillors have appointed Division 2 councillor Greg Harris as the county's liaison with Mountain View BearSmart Society until the 2018 organizational meeting.
The appointment came by way of motion following a July 4 presentation by society officials to council.
