Municipal Development Plan interim review

Leduc County Council adopted the updated Municipal Development Plan (MDP) Bylaw No. 03-24, on Aug. 27, 2024, and rescinded the previous MDP Bylaw No. 08-19.

The intent of the approved Municipal Development Plan was to align its policies with the Regional Agriculture Master Plan (RAMP) and address inconsistencies between MDP and other policy documents and plans that were approved by the County and EMRB after the adoption of the previous MDP in 2019.

First reading of the Bylaw # 03-24 was held on Feb. 13, 2024, and second reading of the bylaw was held on June 11, 2024. After second reading, the draft MDP Bylaw #03-24 was referred to the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB) for review and approval under the Provincially mandated legislative requirements of the Regional Evaluation Framework (REF). EMRB approved the County’s updated Municipal Development Plan on August 22, 2024, after which the plan was presented to the County’s Council for final reading and adoption on Aug. 27, 2024. The updated Municipal Development Plan Bylaw No. 03-24 is now in effect following Council’s adoption.

The Municipal Government Act (MGA) requires municipalities to adopt a MDP and stipulates that a MDP may address a number of things, but

1. Must address
   1. The future land use within the municipality,
   2. The manner of and the proposals for future development in the municipality,
   3. The co-ordination of land use, future growth patterns and other infrastructure with adjacent municipalities if there is no intermunicipal development plan with respect to those matters in those municipalities,
   4. The provisions of the required transportation systems either generally or specifically within the municipality and in relation to adjacent municipalities, and
   5. The provision of municipal services and facilities either generally or specifically.

In addition to the requirements of the MGA, the MDP must also consider direction from other legislation, regulations, and policies such as the provincial land use policies, the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB), and Leduc County’s Strategic Plan. Of particular note, is the Regional Agriculture Master Plan (RAMP) that EMRB began work on in 2018. RAMP is a land use plan specifically for agriculture in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region and addresses the following objectives of the growth plan:

6.1 Identify and conserve an adequate supply of prime agricultural lands to provide a secure local food source for future generations.

6.2 Minimize the fragmentation and conservation of prime agricultural lands for non-agricultural uses.

6.3 Promote diversification and value-added agriculture production and plan infrastructure to support the agricultural sector and regional food system.

RAMP was approved by EMRB on August 12, 2021 and by the Government of Alberta on December 21, 2022. All EMRB member municipalities, including Leduc County, are required to update their MDP to align with RAMP by December 21, 2024.

To learn more about RAMP, please visit the EMRB's RAMP webpage.

To meet the requirement to update the MDP to align with RAMP by Dec. 21, 2024, the County is undertaking an interim review of its MDP. The interim review is intended to be limited in scope. The objectives of the interim review are to:

1. Align the MDP with provincial legislative and regulations that have changed since the adoption of the MDP.
2. Align the MDP with plans and studies approved by the EMRB since adoption of the MDP (i.e. RAMP).
3. Identify and address inconsistencies between the MDP and plans adopted by the County or studies and strategies approved by the County since the adoption of the MDP.
4. Revise MDP policies identified through the implementation of the MDP in need of refinement to provide clarity.

There are three phases to the MDP Interim Review: project start-up; build solutions; and project completion. The project team is in phase two: build solutions. The project team has drafted revisions to the MDP to bring it into alignment with RAMP and other objectives of the MDP interim review in consultation with Council.

WHAT WE'VE HEARD (SO FAR)

PHASE ONE

Highlights of the proposed revisions to the MDP were presented at open house events and online between Nov. 16 and Nov. 30, 2023. The objective of the public participation campaign was to give the public a clear understanding of the scope of decisions being made during the MDP interim review and to gather input on the proposed draft MDP.

All feedback has been captured and documented in the what we heard report including next steps to the process.

Highlights to what we heard are listed below.

Overall, respondents want to:

• protect and preserve prime agricultural land.
• restrict encroachment of urban municipalities onto prime agricultural land in Leduc County.
• limit the parcels of land allowed on a quarter section of land to two.
• allow second acreage development on non-primary farmland.
• see development on lower soil quality lands in the eastern part of the County.
• see agritourism and recreational agriculture supported and made easier and less costly to pursue.
• to retain and restore wetlands as part of environmental stewardship.
• have commercial development in central New Sarepta and to keep light industrial to the periphery.
• strengthen wetland management and conservation within the County.
• see protection of environmentally sensitive land like Ministik Lake.