(Supplied)

By rdnewsNOW Staff

ANNUAL REVIEW OF MDP AND LUB

Lacombe County wins planning award for annual review process

Jul 11, 2024 | 3:50 PM

Lacombe County has been awarded the 2024 Planning Award of Merit for Implementation Success by the Alberta Professional Planners Institute.

The award recognizes Lacombe County’s annual review process of the Municipal Development Plan (MDP) and Land Use Bylaw (LUB) as an innovative, forward-thinking, and collaborative approach to ensure the County’s planning framework remains up-to-date and aligned with the community’s vision and ongoing trends in planning.

The award was presented to Lacombe County planning services staff during an awards luncheon on July 10, 2024 at the Canadian Institute of Planners / Alberta Professional Planners Institute Conference in Edmonton.

“When we originally contemplated the idea of doing an annual review in 2017, we couldn’t find any other case studies where an annual review approach was used as a successful implementation tool in Alberta,” says Cajun Paradis, senior planner. “Nonetheless, we decided to take the bold move to incorporate an annual review requirement into our Municipal Development Plan. Essentially, every year, we give our Plan a report card showing whether its policies have met expectations. Fast forward six years later, this has proved to be a highly effective and successful tool that has allowed us to continuously improve and refine our planning policy to be current and relevant.”

Each year, County Planning Services staff collect data and metrics that are used to critically evaluate whether each policy of the MDP is performing as originally intended. These results are published in a report available to the public.

250 HOMES IMPACTED

Failed equipment causes power outage in Eastview and Morrisroe

1h ago

FECAL BACTERIA

Water quality advisory issued for Ebeling Beach at Gull Lake

3h ago

george littlechild

Exhibit at Red Deer Museum highlights unidentified, yet unforgettable faces of Ermineskin residential school

7h ago

Based on the results and submissions received from the community, County staff may propose changes to the MDP or LUB to address policy shortfalls. The bylaw changes are presented to the public for further comment before being considered by council for final adoption.

“While almost all municipalities strive to create plans that are ‘living documents,’ Lacombe County took this to full realization,” says Tim Timmons, County manager. “In 2017, County council and administration saw the immense dialogue being generated from the public engagements of our Municipal Development Plan and Land Use Bylaw update and committed to keeping the momentum alive by continuously refining and updating our plans to align with ongoing trends and the vision of our community.”

The County’s MDP seeks to protect large tracts of agricultural lands in the County from loss and fragmentation, while also providing opportunities for high-quality development at strategic locations. The County’s LUB is the implementation tool of the MDP and places all land in the County into land use districts, outlining various developments that can be considered in each district. Lacombe County won two provincial awards in 2018 for the innovative public engagement approach that was used in the last update of the Municipal Development Plan and Land Use Bylaw.

“While all municipalities in Alberta are required to have a municipal development plan and land use bylaw, Lacombe County is one of the few, if not only, municipality in Alberta that has incorporated a systematic process to review these documents every year,” says Dale Freitag, director of planning services.

The annual review allows the County to monitor its progress on important priorities, which have led to tangible benefits to the community. For example, since adopting the annual review, the County has increased its trail inventory by 24 per cent; increased its number of interpretive parks signs by 71 per cent; and has seen a 720 per cent increase in land enrolled in the Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) program.

The annual review process has also catalyzed further engagement on hot policy topics. For instance, in late 2023 and early 2024, the County conducted community engagement on the topic of dwellings in the agricultural area. This helped informed important policy decisions made by the County.

“We hope that the recognition of this work through the Award of Merit will encourage other municipalities to explore similar approaches that can help revitalize their municipal plans,” says Barb Shepherd, reeve of Lacombe County

—

Subscribe to our FREE newsletter, and download the rdnewsNOW mobile app on Google Play and the Apple App Store for all the latest updates on this and other stories.