(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Alessia Proietti

Project philosophy

Red Deer’s Land Use Bylaw review project aims for simplicity

Mar 7, 2023 | 8:07 AM

Red Deer city council considered the project philosophy of the Land Use Bylaw (LUB) Review Project at their meeting on Monday, with the goal of making it simpler for the public.

Every municipality in Alberta is required to have a Land Use Bylaw, which establishes rules and regulations for land development and the process of decision making for development permit applications.

A LUB Review Project has been underway in Red Deer since 2021, with plans to present a new bylaw to city council for approval later this year, according to city officials. They say the primary intent of the review project is to increase flexibility and adaptability by reducing unnecessary regulations.

The City says the overarching goals of the document will be to:

• Reduce red tape like removing non-essential procedures, forms, licenses, and relations that add time or cost for residents
• Simplify for ease of use, for example, by using plain rather than legal language
• Improve customer experience through changes to the online system, application requirements and administrative processes, among others
• Respect the community by ensuring affordable housing options, opportunities for public feedback and more

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City officials say a new LUB provides an opportunity to prepare The City for future building trends and market demands as it will include revised content for general, residential, commercial, and industrial regulations. The City’s LUB underwent a formatting update in 2006, but the fundamentals of the bylaw and its regulations were last reviewed and updated in 1996, with many of the regulations having been carried forward from its original in 1978.

On Monday, administration says they were checking in with city council on the project philosophy and reporting on considerations that will inform future public participation on the project, including:

• Providing a wider variety of housing choices in residential areas, and flexibility for the addition of tiny homes, garden suites or carriage homes to a property
• Consolidating several residential and commercial zonings to simplify development
• Adding new uses to nearly all areas
• Standardizing some discretionary uses, and
• Considering more compatible mixed-uses, such as commercial-residential districts and home occupations

The project philosophy, they say, aims to balance the city’s current needs with flexibility while providing reasonable regulations and a level of certainty to transition to future needs.

“The Land Use Bylaw philosophy and project framework support the direction of the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan, particularly the need to be future focused,” said City Manager Tara Lodewyk. “A new bylaw can better enable The City to support a local economy where it is easy to establish or expand a business and can position Red Deer as a competitive municipality with affordable housing choices.”

The City says comments on the new LUB are welcome and can be provided via an online survey.