Rocky View County report February

Some of you have noticed the Langdon ASP is underway, others may not care, but you should. An Area Structure Plan is the guiding document that Rocky View County Administration uses to evaluate proposals that Developers and landowners of any kind bring in to the County. The Planning Staff are right now putting together a proposal for Council to approve that will somewhat shape the future of Langdon. The process started at the end of 2014 when the County Council approved the ASP to be done, struck a study area and administration hired a group to do a door to door survey to get an understanding of what Residents wanted, from there they start putting together a roadmap of sorts to try to meet the goals of the Community. They have done many open houses, had many presentations and at the end of their efforts will be able to present what they feel is the correct vision for the future. The biggest question in the whole entire process is this: Do you agree with it?
The last ASP was completed in 1999, 17 years ago, it started in 1998, a time when our fair Hamlet was well under 2,000 people, we are now at around 5,000 and growing. The County Plan, another Statutory Document that guides development suggests that Hamlets be kept to around 10,000, the largest ones in Alberta are Fort McMurray (60,000) and Sherwood Park (70,000) the term Hamlet is simply an unincorporated population area within a County. Population targets can sometimes have an influence on what services are attracted to an area and what amenities can be sustainable. For instance we never had a Grocery Store until Buy-Low felt there were enough people to be able to sustain their business, I remember calling around to every grocery company in existence and none had any interest in a place under 10,000, Tim Horton’s was the same, I am glad they took a chance on us and from the lineups I see, I think they are too. Recreation facilities are similar, there are many studies out there that suggest what facilities need what populations to be sustainable, some call for 5,000 population, some 10,000 and some 20,000, they are of course guidelines though, for instance a Golf Course call for a population of 30,000 and we have one of those!
Storm water management and transportation corridors are another consideration, they both take a lot of money to provide. Development is what builds infrastructure, if the County used tax base to build roads and drainage plans, we wouldn’t come close to the low tax rates we currently enjoy.
In closing, a couple of quick things about the Area Structure Plan: It doesn’t change your zoning or land use of land you own or force anyone to comply with the overall plan, it does force Administration to make recommendations to Council on applications but Council can over ride. It doesn’t mean that anything will happen immediately but it does give an indication of what will probably happen over the next 10 years or so. The last and most important thing is that your input is heavily weighed in the decision and it gives me great abilities to have the ASP the way you want it if you are part of the process and make your opinion known. I expect Administration to bring the plan to the Council meeting on March 8 when there will be a public hearing, that will be the final opportunity to voice your concerns or relay your accolades if you believe they got it right. Please take part, it matters a lot.