PUBLIC HEARING | Updates to the Municipal Development Plan and Land Use Bylaw

Municipalities like Lacombe County are required to adopt a Municipal Development Plan and Land Use Bylaw.

• Lacombe County's Municipal Development Plan is our community's vision for the future. It outlines a framework for how certain parts of the County can grow and develop into various compatible land uses while preserving all other lands for agriculture. 
• The County's Land Use Bylaw is the implementation tool of the Municipal Development Plan and places all land in the County into land use districts, outlining how development can occur in each district.

Combined, these two documents ensure community interests are protected; growth and development are safe and logical; and opportunities for development are provided at strategic locations while ensuring large tracts of agricultural lands elsewhere are protected for future generations.

Back in 2017, the County committed itself to accountable and transparent decision-making and annual progress reporting. This allows the County to strive for continual improvement each year and ensures the documents are ‘living documents’, continuing to stay up-to-date with trends in land use planning, development pressures in the area, and the needs and desires of the local community. 

The annual review gives us a ‘report card’ to evaluate how well we are doing in upholding the community’s vision established in 2017. It provides a critical review of whether each and every policy is meeting its intent. The report card shows if a policy is on-track, or if updates are needed. 

What are the proposed updates?

Some key updates are to:

• Allow two dwellings on Agricultural ‘A’ District parcels 10 acres in size or larger.
• Require Agricultural Parcel Subdivision is to follow the current boundaries of the established operation, or the proposed expansion area
• Allow Community Use Subdivisions, to support non-profit community use facilities, like rural halls
• Encourage multi-lot residential subdivisions to achieve maximum density, to protect the County’s rural character.
• Allow minor discretion on varied parcel sizes in a number of residential districts, to further encourage maximum density of residential areas
• Reduce the minimum dwelling size to be 750 ft² in the Agricultural ‘A’, Hamlet ‘H’, Hamlet Residential 1 ‘H-R1’ and Hamlet Residential 2 Mobile Home ‘H-R2’ Districts.
• Add a ‘data processing centre’, as a discretionary use in agriculture and industrial districts, requiring pre-circulation to the neighbourhood within a 2.0-mile radius
• Simplify the approval process for personal alternative energy systems, using solar or wind to create power for on-site use only
• Simplify the approval process for a number of industrial uses, subject to the property being rezoned to an industrial district

For full details, the full draft bylaws are attached below.