Municipal Development Plan & Land Use Bylaw First Reading
Posted on Sep. 15 2020MEDIA RELEASE
September 14, 2020
Today, the Town council has given the first reading to two cornerstone statutory documents, Bylaw 17.20 Municipal Development Plan (MDP) and Bylaw 16.20 Land Use Bylaw (LUB).
The Municipal Development Plan is the Town’s visionary community plan. It provides high-level guidance, goals and policy. The Drumheller MDP does what few municipal plans have managed to do, place disaster response and the changing climate directly at the core of its growth logic and long-term vision. By placing the river at the heart of planning, the MDP supplants decades of reactive policies with bold, proactive measures.
The LUB introduces many key innovations. It shifts the system from “use” to “form”, reconnecting regulation to intent and greatly simplifies the document structure. Twenty-one districts have been reduced to eight and further innovations related to signage and parking modernize Drumheller’s ability to attract investment.
Chief Resiliency and Flood Mitigation Officer, Darwin Durnie “is excited to see the MDP and LUB presented to council. Not only does this lay the foundation for changing the channel on flood readiness, but these two new bold visionary documents will also help us attract development by enabling investment, not controlling it. While we know the river can be a threat to us, for the majority of time, it’s an asset. We need to understand what opportunities it can create for future growth of the valley.”
“This is about stimulating development and making it easier for people to come to town and get their business up and running as fast as possible by accelerating processes and minimizing delays," states Darryl Drohomerksi, CAO and Development Officer.
Municipal Planning Commission (MPC) Chair, Tom Zariski sees this first reading as “an opportunity to turn the corner. For years, MPC has been considered reactive and negative. The new LUB will allow us to be proactive and clearly define areas for growth and areas where we will no longer accept development. These are landmark documents and I’m eager to see these changes.”
Consultation will begin on the two by-laws featuring a website where residents can provide feedback on the proposed changes. A public hearing is scheduled for both the MDP and LUB on Monday, October 26th. For more information go to www.drumheller.ca.
