The MD of Foothills’ new guide for future developments is raising eyebrows over changes to rules regarding residential development in the region.

While some are concerned the new Municipal Development Plan (MDP) may go too far, others say it doesn’t go far enough.

MD council has scheduled a public hearing on the document for Nov. 26 at 1:30 p.m. in MD council chambers in High River to give residents a chance to speak out on the plan.

MD Coun. Terry Waddock is concerned residents may not know enough about the municipality's proposed new Municipal Development Plan. Wheel file photo

Coun. Terry Waddock said residents need to be aware of a number of red flags within the proposed development plan.

“I was really, really quite upset about this thing,” he said. “Some of these things are taking away people’s rights.”

The proposed MDP makes preservation of agricultural land a priority and envisions three forms of residential development in the MD: country, cluster and hamlet residential areas.

The proposed plan states further subdivision of first parcels out from a quarter section should not be supported. However, one parcel subdivisions from a quarter section may be supported if they are between two and 21 acres and encompass all buildings, shelter belts, wells and septic fields.

Under the proposed MDP, the maximum density for country residential subdivisions would be one parcel per quarter section. Council could allow exceptions, but densities should not exceed 32 units per quarter section — the maximum allowed under the existing MDP.

The new MDP includes clustered residential developments, which have not been part of previous plans, where lot sizes are limited between 0.8 and two acres.

The plan also outlines new environmentally significant areas covering much of the western portion of the MD. It states development proposals in these areas should require a biophysical assessment of environmental impacts on the land, water and air.

The MDP also encourages people to pursue estate planning that does not lead to break up of agricultural lands.

Waddock said the plan limits a landowner’s ability to subdivide any large area and is essentially pushing new development towards hamlets or clustered developments.

“Everyone is going to live in a hamlet. If you want that, then we all might as well move to Calgary,” he said.

Waddock said the MDP should apply to all parts of the MD equally, but the policies over environmentally sensitive areas place them under a separate set of rules.

“The whole west, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, is an environmentally sensitive area,” he added, saying it puts the onus on landowners to show the land is suitable for subdivision.

MD planning manager Heather Hemingway said the municipality can expect new development to occur next to major urban centers like Calgary. She said defining where growth will occur is not an easy question to answer and the MDP will help guide council in dealing with development proposals.

“We should manage our growth. We should plan for our growth because we’re certainly going to have growth,” Hemingway said.

She said agriculture is the dominant land use in the MD and it will continue to be.

Coun. Ted Mills is pleased with the plan to date saying it protects agricultural land.

“I think, if anything, there is going to be an even stronger section on agriculture,” he said.

Mills said he expects to hear some concerns about the estate planning provision, but said it’s an issue that needed to be dealt with.

“Over the last five years, it has become a reason (for subdivisions) and I think we should address that to say there are other ways you can address estate planning and that it shouldn’t really be left to us,” he said.

Frances Dover, president of the Priddis Millarville Resident’s Association, said the association’s executive agrees with the direction the MD is going with the document.

“The MDP 2010 is not perfect, but it is greener and it certainly is an improvement,” she said.

Dover is pleased to see more controls on development and supports limiting first parcels out.

However, she said the language in the document should be stronger.

Dover also argued the MD should have started with a groundwater study and then conducted a growth management study prior to completing the MDP.

“They’re going to have a plan, but no one’s ever studied the groundwater,” she said. “We don’t know how much water we have. How can you have development and clustered housing if you don’t know if there’s any water.”

However, MD resident Pat Stier said the new MDP will remove the flexibility landowners currently have to make decisions over their land.

“It would look to me that those people who have anything over 21 acres will have a very, very small chance of getting any further kind of subdivision. That means you won’t see any more (80 acre parcels) being created, unless there’s some unusual situation,” he said.

According to Stier, there are a lot of landowners who have relied on their land for their future and will not be able to subdivide their land.

“There’s a lot of people out there who have 80 acres or 60 acres who are retiring, who don’t have any jobs or any pension and they always thought they could take off five or 10 acres if they had to,” he said. “If they can’t subdivide, that means they have to sell their whole parcel and move to town.”

dpatterson@okotoks.greatwest.ca

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