If passed the new Municipal Government Act (MGA) could bring changes to Cochrane.
The Eagle sat down with Julian deCocq, the town’s chief administrative officer, who has been working with the province to make amendments to get some insight about how the revised act might affect municipalities.
“When the MGA first came out it was considered a forward-thinking document that was ahead of its time, but over the years it has gotten rough around the edges,” deCocq said.
Municipal Government Acts are set in place to provide legislated regulations municipalities must adhere to focusing on three major areas: governance, planning and development, and assessment and taxation.
deCocq said the amendments, if passed, could bring a couple changes to Cochrane in the areas of offsite levies, reserves, inclusionary zoning and mandatory participation with a regional growth management board.
The MGA allows the town to collect fees called Off Site Levies from new developments to aid in the construction of infrastructure necessary for growth.
Currently, the act allows levies to be collected for water, roads, bridges and storm and sewer services. Those criteria are detailed in the town’s Off Site Levy Bylaw. If the amendments are passed, four additional categories will be added to projects eligible for levies, including fire stations, police stations, libraries and recreational facilities. This optional levy would be assessed based on a minimum 30 per cent benefit of the proposed facility on new development. The formula for determining these additional Off Site Levies will be detailed in the regulations, which are currently under development.
Changes are also in the works to help make environmental reserves easier to define. Currently environmental reserves are defined as land unsuitable for development and with approved changes municipalities would also be able to determine reserves earlier in the planning process.
Inclusionary zoning may also be added to the legislation, giving developers and the municipality another option to include more affordable housing in future developments.
And the biggest proposed amendment will be the mandatory participation in the Calgary region Growth Management Board. Currently the Calgary Regional Partnership is a voluntary organization, which includes Calgary and most surrounding urban communities. The guiding document for the CRP is the Calgary Metropolitan Plan, which focuses on many aspects of regional planning. Cochrane has been a voluntary member since the Calgary Metropolitan Plan was adopted four years ago – if Bill 21 is passed, Rocky View County and the MD of Foothills will be legislated to participate with the new growth management board.
Another big proposed change would fall under property assessment and taxation, where the ratio between non-residential and residential rates would be limited to a 5:1 ratio, although deCocq explained this would not affect Cochrane because there is not a big ratio difference between the resident and non-residential tax rates in town.
“Nothing is clear yet how these things will work,” deCocq said. “Some things have passed but they are still creating regulations.”
A document released by the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, listing the key messages for public consolation on the MGA amendments, stated it will be difficult to asses the impact of the amendments since the province advises that the details will be set out in regulations.
For more information go to mgareview.alberta.ca/whats-changing/plan-for-growth
