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County moves to opt out of IDP

Sturgeon County has sent notice that it wants out of a long-standing joint planning document with St. Albert.

Sturgeon County has sent notice that it wants out of a long-standing joint planning document with St. Albert.

Sturgeon councillors voted unanimously to withdraw from the intermunicipal development plan (IDP), a planning agreement between the two municipalities covering development near the boundary between them.

It allows the two communities to review and approve proposed developments near that boundary and has caused delays in several proposals in both communities.

Earlier this year, the two communities proposed amending the plan with two changes — one removing all of St. Albert's annexed lands and the proposed Quail Ridge subdivision in the Sturgeon Valley and another removing the Northern Lights subdivision from the plan’s scope.

When the proposed changes came out, other county residents whose land would still have been subject to the agreement expressed serious concerns that their land would remain subject to St. Albert's purview.

Councillors voted to continue with the moves on the Northern Lights subdivision, but rejected the other changes in favour of scrapping the document completely.

Coun. Don McGeachy said the agreement simply no longer works for the county or St. Albert.

“It is time to put this baby to bed. She has been crying for a while. I think this is the best thing for the county.”

County Mayor Don Rigney said the IDP might have been brought in with good intentions, but it hasn't worked out and has hampered growth in both communities.

“The IDP seemed to be more of a hindrance or a vehicle to say no than a vehicle to say yes,” he said. “We went through one of the strongest growth periods, in 2002 to 2007, in Alberta history and look at how little growth occurred in that area.”

The agreement has always had a process allowing one side to opt-out with 60 days notice, which the county has now invoked. A joint council meeting and public hearing will have to be held and the county will have to give three readings to the repeal bylaw.

St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse reacted evenly to the news, saying he still has to see how it will play out.

“It is going to take months to sort out what the new framework is going to be so I wouldn’t want to prejudge that.”

Crouse said the two communities would still work together, just in different ways.

“There is a relationship with or without the IDP so it is just going to change.”

The plan was initially established, at the suggestion of Alberta Municipal Affairs in 2001. It was also supposed to lay out a plan for future annexations.

St. Albert Coun. James Burrows congratulated the county on its move and said it just made sense.

“I think it was a document of red tape and it has really hindered development.”

Burrows said with the IDP gone, St. Albert will be able to plan on the annexed lands, including the proposed industrial study areas, free of any interference from Sturgeon County.

He is also encouraged the county has indicated it wants to continue joint council meetings. Burrows said he welcomes the county’s move, but even if he didn’t there is a process and very little the city can do.

“They have made their decision.”

Rigney said the plan hasn't adapted to where the region finds itself today and he doesn't want to see it replaced with another plan.

“It doesn’t respond to changing conditions and new opportunities and I think you just have to have a good relationship.”

Rigney added that, with the provisions already in place in the Municipal Government Act and the new guidelines the Capital Region Board has established, there is no reason for the IDP to remain in place.

“There is a real sentiment in our community that whether we like it or not — and I will emphasize whether we like it or not — the Capital Region Board supersedes the IDP.”

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