Re: “Council scraps County Plan reviews, opts for new MDP,” article, March 19. Dear Editor, For unsubstantiated reasons, Rocky View County (RVC) council directed administration to “begin the process to write an entirely new Municipal Development Plan (MDP)” at an estimated cost of $400,000 (approximately equivalent to a one per cent tax increase). Two amendments to the document were approved: removal of population targets for hamlets, and support to allow business development outside approved business cores within Area Structure Plans (ASP). Planning has distributed a one-month survey as the vehicle for public consultation on these changes. However, there may be unintended consequences for these questionable proposals: to essentially jettison an open and transparent County Plan which has been incorporated into the Interim Growth Plan by the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB). All statutory documentation within the County Plan as amended in 2018 was “grandfathered” in, as legislated under the CMRB policies, but implementation policy mandates all “new statutory plans and certain amendments to existing statutory plans” must be reviewed. How will a complete do-over of the County Plan framework, at the halfway point of its planned lifetime, fit into the new reality of regional planning under the CMRB? What growth proposals will still be honoured by the adjacent municipalities? Under the Municipal Government Act, statutory documents like an MDP must provide long-term direction for “sustainable growth, population intensity, sequence of development and provision of essential services.” ASPs must include “proposed population density,” as well as adequate proposed transportation routes and utilities. The amendments proposed at the March 12 council meeting may provide the legal grounds to re-open past appeals of County ASPs by Calgary and Chestermere, which had been successfully defended by administration based on moderate growth and defined statutory population targets. As a past member of the Reeve’s Task Force on Growth Planning (December 2010), and as a former councillor throughout the development of the County Plan in 2013, my experience was that meaningful public consultation – through town halls, open houses and events throughout the County – was a fundamental foundation for the process. Not just local citizens – neighbouring municipalities and school boards provided critical guidance and direction to administration and councillors. Now, council is dictating new growth priorities rather than listening to what ratepayers and neighbours may identify as their priorities of a fiscally-responsible framework for growth. Past council policy within the County Plan, which offset residential tax increases through the guide of 65/35 residential to commercial property assessment, has been redirected by the present council as being too restrictive on residential growth. Commercial taxes offset costs of infrastructure servicing for residential development via a higher mill rate, while residential development costs approximately $1.50 for every $1.00 in taxes generated. If council eliminates this fiscally-prudent policy, what entity will pick up the tab? While the MDP is a “living document” and open to targeted amendments, how will a wholesale rewrite play out in negotiations with the CMRB? Removal of the moderate growth targets and policy to achieve a fiscally-responsible balance between residential and commercial development could result in RVC facing the same unbalanced residential costs to commercial burden experienced by rapidly-growing adjacent municipalities such as Chestermere and Cochrane. I sincerely hope the majority on council will consider the potential for severe, unintended consequences as they reopen the County’s key planning framework, which will ultimately require CMRB approval. Liz Breakey Former councillor, Division 1
