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Rural municipalities want out of growth board

Foothills County, Rocky View County and Wheatland County would like to see the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board dissolved in favour of voluntary collaboration at a lesser time commitment and financial burden.
Suzanne Oel 0482
Foothills County Reeve Suzanne Oel said the three rural municipalities in the Calgary Metropolitan Regional Board would like to see the board dissolved in favour of voluntary collaboration. (BRENT CALVER/Western Wheel)

FOOTHILLS – Rural municipalities involved in the Calgary Metropolitan Regional Board want to see the group dissolved and replaced with a voluntary membership.

Formed in 2018, the CMRB is comprised of 10 area municipalities: Calgary, Okotoks, High River, Airdrie, Cochrane, Chestermere, Strathmore, Foothills County, Rocky View County and a portion of Wheatland County. Its membership was provincially mandated, replacing the former Calgary Regional Partnership, which permitted voluntary membership.

Foothills County was not supportive of the CMRB from the beginning, citing a loss of autonomy and voting and veto structures that favoured urban municipalities. Now, its concern has grown and includes the cost of membership in both time and money.

“It causes a burden to our municipality for the amount of time and resources it requires, and it’s creating a bit of a risk to investment in the area due to the long processes necessary to submit our development to another level of government,” said Foothills County Reeve Suzanne Oel.

Development plans must be brought before the CMRB members before being implemented, she said. Currently there are several plans before the group, including Okotoks’ West Okotoks Area Structure Plan.

Plans put forward by member municipalities are subject to voting by the group, and Oel said sometimes those votes are not favourable.

The three rural members of the CRMB – Foothills, Rocky View and Wheatland – brought a resolution forward to the fall Rural Municipalities Association (RMA) to dissolve the board. If it couldn’t be dissolved, the counties wanted to see a different voting structure in place and an appeal process outside of the board.

Their preference would be for a voluntary board that could meet as necessary, said Oel.

“To talk about things we feel are important to the region – economic development, transportation, those kinds of things, instead of getting caught up in micro-managing the words on documents and then having some unhappy results with the way votes so when communities, for whatever reason, choose to oppose something going on in a community they don’t even have an interest in,” she said.

Currently, CMRB members are expected to complete the board’s overarching growth plan document by the end of 2020, and that means meeting more regularly and working at break-neck speed, she said.

The cost to the municipality for staff time, council time and board expenses is about $600,000 per year, she said.

Foothills County and its rural counterparts value collaboration with their neighbours, but she said they feel it could be done without a mandated growth board at such a commitment and expense.

“While we’re at the table we put our best foot forward and we’re trying,” said Oel. “We participate, we do our best to be part of all the conversation, but we are just wondering if we could achieve this in a less costly manner.”

She said Foothills County has always had a strong opinion on the CMRB, particularly since the municipality prides itself on its connections with 14 neighbouring municipalities outside and within its borders.

“We truly believe we have intermunicipal processes in place that are working well,” said Oel. “We have cost-sharing agreements, we have intermunicipal development plans.”

The Town of Okotoks takes a different stance, believing wholeheartedly in the work of the CMRB. Okotoks council signed off on a letter at its Feb. 10 meeting proclaiming its support for the board and work it says is important and valuable.

“We are very supportive of the initiatives and we want to continue and want to make sure the provincial government is aware of our support for this,” said Nancy Weigel, Okotoks corporate and strategic services director. “We believe it’s imperative to direct efficient and cost-effective growth that benefits the entire Calgary region.”

Council further requested the provincial government continue to provide funding for the CMRB as it continues its work in the region.

Coun. Florence Christophers said membership in the CMRB shows a commitment to regional planning and the importance of the Town working collaboratively with its regional partners.

She said though it’s not perfect, everybody wins when regional planning is done.

“That’s what the CMRB does, it facilitates that,” said Christophers. “It doesn’t mean it’s a perfect process, it doesn’t mean there aren’t breakdowns, but that’s what happens when humans come together to try to make things work between different vested interests.”

Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca

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