Council briefs: Annexation and AUMA resolutions

COUNCIL BRIEFS – June 26, 2017 meeting
Annexation
 
The City of Red Deer won’t be looking to go through the annexation process for at least one more year.
 
Council decided Monday the City has a sufficient amount of land at this juncture and can consider annexation again a year from now once the implications of changes to the Municipal Government Act can be better understood.
 
“We are currently in the 11th year of our Intermunicipal Development Plan with the County. Part of the IDP is that we review it annually with the County and when we looked at the potential for future developable lands currently within the city of Red Deer’s boundaries, as well as the state of the local economy and our ability to service any new lands, we recognized we didn’t need to give notice to annex this year,” explains Mayor Tara Veer.
 
The decision also comes despite the IDP recommending the City have 30 to 50 years of developable land within its boundary. Current calculations it only has 18 years worth.
 
The council of the day also deferred annexation in 2013 and 2015 (until 2017) when there were 16 and 14 years worth of land, respectively. The current number grows by a small amount once ‘non-urban lands’ are taken into account. Non-urban lands are defined as lands that have not been rezoned for any type of use.
 
AUMA resolutions
 
Council will take three resolutions to the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association 2017 Conference in November.
 
Two of the resolutions call for the province to step up and fund one both province-wide 211 service and medical equipment lending services across Alberta, such as the Lending Cupboard in Red Deer.
 
The third is a resolution which has been in the works for a little while, says Mayor Veer, and it calls for a provincial combative sports commission to be formed by the Alberta government. The resolution notes how most other province have a commission, unlike in Alberta where municipalities must make decisions on combative sports events and are often inconsistent with one another.
 
Further resolutions may come forward once anticipated amendments to the Municipal Government Act are done being evaluated.
 
Canada Winter Games loan bylaw
 
What was ultimately just a formality will now allow the 2019 Canada Winter Games Host Society to borrow more than $4.6 million from the City of Red Deer.
 
Council approved a loan bylaw Monday in accordance with the Municipal Government Act.
 
The money represents a portion of previously approved dollars, $4.6 million of which the Host Society must pay back by April 1, 2019 and at zero per cent interest.
 
Intermediate School historic designation
 
City council has moved one step closer to designating the downtown Intermediate School as a municipal historic resource.
 
In March, the City served its notice of intent to do so and had to wait out a 60 day period. No letters of objection or other inquiries were received.
 
Designating the school as such would bring with it the chance for funding from various sources in order to preserve the building, which in several ways is in disrepair.
 
The matter returns for public hearing on July 24.