MPC eliminated
Morinville is eliminating its municipal planning commission to try and speed up development.
Morinville council voted 6-0 Jan. 14 (Coun. Scott Richardson absent) to eliminate the town’s Municipal Planning Commission (MPC).
Established in 2009, the MPC is a group of two councillors and three members of the public that meets once a month to review potentially controversial development applications that involve discretionary uses (such as a casino) or exceed a regulation by more than 25 per cent (such as an extra-big sign). MPC decisions can be appealed to the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board (SDAB).
Coun. Sarah Hall called for a report on the elimination of the MPC last October, saying doing so would help business and eliminate red tape.
Planning and economic development director Brad White told council the MPC typically added seven to 14 days – and in one case 52 days – to a development’s approval process, which could make investment in town riskier. The commission also duplicated the role of the SDAB.
While Hall had proposed an administrative committee to replace the MPC, White said such a group would have the same drawbacks as the current group. He recommended eliminating the MPC and having development officers handle all applications instead to save time and money. He noted this could result in a couple more appeals to the SDAB each year.
“Personally, I think this is a redundant board,” Hall said, one that involved a lot of work and expense to make what were often very obvious decisions. The MPC had also never opposed a variance brought before it in the last two years.
Council will vote on the necessary bylaw changes to eliminate the MPC this Jan. 28.
Road repair inbound?
Alberta’s transportation minister says he’ll fix the ugly state of one of Morinville’s main roads “as soon as possible” this year – and Mayor Turner says he plans to hold him to that promise.
Council received a letter from Transportation Minister Ric McIver Jan. 14. The letter was dated Dec. 9, 2019, and addressed the province’s botched repair job of Hwy. 642 in Morinville.
Alberta Transportation applied a chip seal treatment to Hwy. 642 between Hwy. 28 to the Morinville railway tracks on Aug. 24, 2018, covering it with rocks and sealant. The sealant soon failed, turning one of the town’s main roads into a bumpy, rock-strewn, windshield-wrecking mess. Residents and town council have demanded a fix ever since.
McIver acknowledged the chip seal has resulted in “frustration” for Morinville, and said the current plan was to grind it off and replace it with new pavement.
“This project remains a department priority, and work is tentatively scheduled to begin as soon as possible in 2020.”
While complaints about it have been down in recent months because it’s been covered with snow, Turner said the road was still very rough and hazardous to motorcyclists.
“Mostly it’s about community pride,” he said – this was one of the town’s main roads, and it is not up to the town’s standards.
Turner said he would meet with McIver in the next few weeks and would press him for a firm timeline on the road’s repair.
Lights and sewers
Morinville council tapped its reserves last week to bring lights to the leisure centre and reinforcements to a sewer pipe.
Council voted Jan. 14 to spend $160,000 from its safety initiative reserve to put lights along Hwy. 642 between the town’s border and the Morinville Leisure Centre.
Council voted to do this for $110,000 back in May 2019 based on a consultant’s assumption that the town could illuminate the road and the trail beside it with one set of lights, engineering manager Jim Gourlay said. The trail turned out to be too far from the road for that to work, and the lights are more expensive than anticipated.
Council heard this money would install lights along the highway. The 2020 budget includes $351,070 to erect solar-powered lights along trails leading to the leisure centre.
Council also voted to take $275,000 from its sanitary capital reserve to reinforce a sanitary trunk line under 101 Avenue.
The 42-year-old 450mm concrete pipe, which services most of the town north of the railway tracks and west of 99 St., broke in June 2019, flooding the basement of Heritage Lodge. The town fixed the pipe, but on later inspection found that it was crumbling and at risk of collapse in three places due to hydrogen sulphide gas.
Gourlay said the plan was to reinforce the pipe by pulling an epoxy-covered felt liner through it and inflating it to create a new pipe, which would be much cheaper than digging up and replacing the current one. This work should be complete by March 31 and would not cause any water interruptions.
