The first public open house for the new Highway 2 & 27 area structure plan (ASP) will be held on June 12, steering committee members decided last week.
The committee held its first meeting at the county office on April 2, with Olds-area resident Andrew Sweetman elected chairman and MVC (Mountain View County) Div. 7 councillor Al Kemmere elected vice-chairman.
Other committee members are Dave Hogarth, James Bakken, Neila Krall, Harvey Walsh, MVC councillor Duncan Milne and MVC reeve Bruce Beattie.
The new ASP is being developed to replace the existing ASP, which was adopted by council in 2007. It must comply with the county-wide municipal development plan (MDP), which was adopted last year.
The ASP can be more restrictive and more specific than the MDP, but it cannot be less so.
The plan sets out land use policies regarding agriculture, residential development, neighbourhood commercial development, business park development, community recreation and other things.
The current ASP area stretches from the eastern boundary of the Town of Olds to one mile east of the intersection of Highway 2 and 27; north to south it takes in most of the land between Twp. Rd. 332 on the north and Twp. Rd. 324 on the south side. The steering committee may decide to change the ASP area during its deliberations.
Chairman Sweetman, an acreage owner who lives just north of Olds, says he hopes the public will be involved in a big way in making the new plan.
“It absolutely has to happen that way,” said Sweetman. “It's going to affect public land. The public needs to let us know exactly what they are thinking.
“Hopefully we will have good turnout at the June open house and have some good back and forth. We want to get people's ideas. There could be opposition or it could be the exact opposite.”
Reeve Beattie says he also hopes the public will provide input into the development of the new plan, through comments at open houses and elsewhere.
“Hopefully the new plan will reflect the wishes of the people who are in the area, the landowners and the residents, and at the same time it has to respect the county-wide MDP,” said Beattie.
“The plan is used by the planning department and by landowners and developers to give a clear indication of what they can do on that land.”
The area is currently zoned light industrial and agricultural, he noted.
During last week's steering committee meeting, members reviewed the committee's terms of reference.
Goals and objectives outlined in the terms of reference include “to achieve the orderly, economical and beneficial development, use of land and patterns of human settlement”, “without infringing on the rights of individuals for any public interest except to the extent that is necessary for the overall greater public interest.”
The objectives of the terms of reference include to “incorporate modern ‘best practice' land use and development standards, prepared regulation and requirements for the efficient management of land use and future development.”
At the next meeting, on April 22, members are expected to review the proposed vision statement.
The county is currently working on two other area structure plans, for Water Valley-Winchell and southeast of Sundre.
Both of those plans are being reviewed by government agencies before coming back before their respective steering committees for further consideration.
All three ASPs could be approved by council prior to the October 2013 municipal election.
