Kevin Hanson – Division 1
Quick Bits
Interesting development on Friday Nov 22 at the CMRB meeting. Minister McIver made a surprise announcement in closed session with the board, and then publicly stated that the provincial government plans to rescind their previous decision and defund their $1 million share of the CMRB budget (about 1⁄2 the operating budget), and also make membership in the CMRB non-mandatory. “May you live in interesting times” comes to mind.
Rural Crime Watch Town-Hall
November 20th saw about 20 folks present, including interest from the Hamlet, Winter Green, and West Bragg. Presenting at the meeting were representatives from the Cochrane Foothills Protective Association, Loraine Wesley our manager of Rocky View County Enforcement, and two of Rocky View’s three enhanced policing constables, Clayton Gelinas (Cochrane detachment) and Scott McWhinney (Airdrie detachment). Rocky View contracts for 3 enhanced positions for extra policing service, with our 3rd officer located out of the Strathmore detachment (for Langdon and area). We also contract an additional “Watch Clerk” based in Strathmore to assist with back-office paper work which keeps the additional constables on patrol more. Quite a few of the attendees took multiple Rural Crime Watch signage with them, with the intent of passing membership information and signage onto their neighbours. Membership allows access to crime statistics that you should find useful.
Municipal Development Plan Review
An update on the Rocky View County Municipal Development plan project was provided to our recent Governance Committee. The project team is currently working to incorporate internal and external feedback into the draft MDP document, which will finalize phase 2. The draft MDP document is then intended for another public release in Q1 2025, which will coincide with the launch of Stage 3 public engagement activities.
The draft MDP will then be refined following the third and final round of engagement, and this will be followed by a public hearing planned for Q2 of 2025. If Council provides first and second readings to the bylaw, the MDP will be submitted to the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB) for approval. For detailed information on the project, head to the Building and Planning tab, and then Current Projects menu: “www. rockyview.ca/current-projects”. Once there, select “Municipal Development Plan Review” and that link will take you to an entire website devoted to tracking project progress, and reporting engagement results to date.
If any communities are interested in working collaboratively to provide Phase 3 engagement feedback, or prepare themselves for a better individual engagement interaction, planning has available “MDP in a Box”. Please e-mail planning_policy@rockyview.ca to ask for a link to download the material, or it can be picked up in person at the County. This can be a great way to discuss with your neighbours prior to filling out surveys, whether you are a cul-de-sac community, or the board of an HOA wants to offer their communities an opportunity to collaborate on the feedback of that community to Rocky View planning.
Springbank Area Structure Plan
The draft amendments to to ASP are going to be a little bit delayed in returning to Council for consideration. We had directed Administration to present the amendments and corresponding policy implications no later than November 30th, but Administration has informed that due to the significant number of amendments suggested by Council, and the time required for the level of engagement necessary to respect the ongoing collaborative relationship with the City of Calgary, a bit more time was required to work through some of the more impactful amendments that Council is considering. The amendments should be coming mid-December, and once Council has considered and resolved to adopt none or more of the amendments, our planning group will generate the final draft of the Springbank ASP. To become statutory, this draft will need two readings by Council, referral to the CMRB under the IREF framework, approval by the CMRB board, and then 3rd reading by Council. By working with Calgary in advance of the referral to CMRB there should be no surprises there as the relationship continues to move forward on the basis of mutual trust and respect.
Contact: KRHanson@RockyView.ca or call 403.463.1166.
