MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - County council has approved an updated area structure plan (ASP) for the Water Valley/Winchell Lake area.
The move was made by way of motions following a public hearing at the Oct. 9 council meeting, held in person and online.
A multi-stakeholder steering committee oversaw the review of the area structure plan.
The ASP is a statutory planning policy document that is compliant with the county’s municipal development plan (MDP) and land use bylaw.
The plan area is comprised of 47 sections of land, located in the southwest corner of the county and is identified as a growth centre in the county’s MDP.
The plan includes the principles, as well as the policies for future land use, subdivision potential and requirements for further development in the Water Valley/Winchell Lake area.
The plan sets out purpose, goals and policies for each of the land use concepts, including:
• Low density: This land use concept will allow a maximum of three additional parcels and the remaining land of the quarter section would be considered the fourth parcel.
The parcel size allows for a mixture of development between agricultural and residential parcels of sizes that varies from minimum three acres to 15 acres for residential proposals.
The size for agricultural parcels will be regulated by the policies of MDP and the regulations of the land use bylaw. The plan makes an exception in two already subdivided quarter sections and will support additional subdivisions (low density) within the north half of SE 34-29-5-5 and the south half of SW 21-29-5-5.
• Medium density: This land use concept allocates higher subdivision potential up to 15 lots per quarter section.
Medium density is allocated only in areas with direct access to a developed road and Highway 579. The parcel size in medium density varies from three to 15 acres for residential development, although larger parcels than 15 acres can be considered for agricultural purposes.
Medium density provides specific guidelines, requiring additional information for proposals for the fifth title or beyond the fifth parcel in a quarter section.
• Neighbourhood commercial/community centre: This land use concept concentrates at the intersection between Highway 579 and the four-way stop and extends half a mile east to Range Road 51.
The policies for the neighbourhood commercial/community centre supports the continued use as a hub that provides services (i.e, coffee shops, restaurants, bakery, grocery stores, etc.) to the community and supports community recreational opportunities.
As part of the circulation of the updated ASP, six area residents provided comments to the steering committee.
Those comments included that the “draft moves significantly away from preserving the current nature of the area”, “developing an ASP without a land use framework is backwards”, “conflicts with medium density in environmentally sensitive areas that have not been assessed for 16 years” and “the amount of land proposed to be rezoned to medium density is too high.”
During the Oct. 8 public hearing, several speakers provided verbal comments.
Dawn Lashmar, chair of the Water Valley/Winchell Lake area structure plan review, said, “Community participation was a key component of the review process of the area structure plan,” she said.
Resident Kathleen Hunter called for council to “halt and reel-in the proposed Water Valley-Winchell Lake area structure plan. Why? I have two reasons: steering committee missteps resulting in procedural unfairness and bylaw misunderstanding..."
“The direction to create medium density development in such a special place needs to be reconsidered. Once the gate is opened to development west of Jack Eby Trail into the heart of Water Valley that can never be reserved and something truly rare on the planet will be forever gone.”
Several residents submitted written comments regarding the updated ASP.
Coun. Peggy Johnson said, in part, “I’m kind of disappointed to see the lack of environmental preservation in the language of the new area structure plan compared to the old area structure plan.”
Coun. Greg Harris said the updated ASP “gives some certainty going forward for people that live in the valley who may want to develop and that doesn’t have to always be up to 15 lots.”
Deputy reeve Dwayne Fulton, who chaired the Oct. 8 meeting, and councillors Alan Miller, Jennifer Lutz and Greg Harris voted in favour of third reading of the bylaw. Coun. Peggy Johnson voted against.
The complete Bylaw No. 12/24, as well as all written comments, is available for viewing on the county’s website.
