Questions remain on integration with larger regional plans

As Alberta's Land-use Framework planning begins, sub-regional planning for the Edmonton and Calgary areas is already out of the gate. The Capital Region Integrated Growth Management Board and the Calgary Regional Partnership, however, have taken different paths to reach their current status. Both plans will need to integrate with the larger regional plans under the Land-use Framework, but so far it is unclear how this will be accomplished.

The Calgary Regional Plan

In March and April 2009, the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP) toured its draft Calgary Regional Plan in a series of open houses and a public comment period. Ultimately, the plan will become part of the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan under Alberta's Land-use Framework (LUF).

The Calgary Regional Partnership is made up of 17 member municipalities and the Tsuu T'ina Nation with support but no direct oversight from the province. The result is a plan that attempts to balance water servicing from Calgary with a regional growth strategy that aims to limit additional growth in the region over the next 60 to 70 years as the population in the Calgary area grows by an anticipated 1.6 million people. Under the business-as-usual scenario, the development footprint would grow by 125,000 hectares (ha). Through a series of development nodes the CRP plan aims to keep the additional footprint to 45,000 ha. Detailed draft plan information can be viewed on the CRP website. In May 2009 the revised draft will be put before local councils, with a final plan to be ratified by the CRP membership in June.

The Capital Regional Plan

The Capital Region Board leads planning in the Edmonton region. The province plays a much stronger role in this planning process as compared to the Calgary Regional Plan, even appointing the chair of the planning board. Chairman Christopher Sheard, a lawyer and businessman with a 25-year career in the natural gas and electricity industries, was appointed by the Premier in 2008 to work with the 25 municipalities in the region to develop a 20 to 50 year growth plan.

Formally established as a board in April 2008, the Capital Region Board's plan identifies four priorities. Unlike the CRP's emphasis on water servicing, the Capital plan's four priorities focus on balancing land-use zones, establishing inter-municipal transit, creating planning information services for municipalities to share, and affordable housing. More details can be found at the Capital Regional Board’s website. The Capital Region Growth Plan: Growing Forward was submitted to the Honourable Ray Danyluk, Minister of Municipal Affairs on April 2, 2009. With a strong provincial influence at both the board and approval level, the Capital Plan is likely to move more quickly than the CRP.

Big questions ahead – integrating with regional plans

Both metropolitan plans will face the challenge of integrating with the province's watershed-based regional plans. The Calgary Regional Plan will need to dovetail with the upcoming South Saskatchewan Regional Plan. The Capital Plan will need to align with the future regional plan for the North Saskatchewan watershed. In theory, these larger regional plans will set landscape-scale objectives that will bind the metropolitan plans.

There are several questions to be resolved for successful integration. With the sub-regional plans already at a further stage of development, how would they be modified with the adoption of the larger regional plans? More specifically, should the larger regional plan set targets that do not align or even conflict with the metropolitan plans, how will that inform changes with sub-regional plans? Will the Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) for the larger regional plans temper the ambition of their work to accommodate the metropolitan plans? The Capital Plan being conducted under the auspices of Municipal Affairs will undergo a cross-ministerial review that may remedy conflicts. The Calgary Regional Plan’s path to align with the forth coming South Saskatchewan Regional planning Process is less certain. Thus far, the province has admitted things are moving quickly, but has yet to detail any substantive, or procedural clarity on these questions. The urgency to do so increases as the metropolitan plans move ahead creating expectations that will weigh upon RACs.

Water Matters submitted comments on the draft Calgary Regional Plan. Read them here.