Municipal Development Plan No
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MunicipalMunicipal DistrictDistrict ofof PincherPincher CreekCreek NoNo.. 99 Municipal Development Plan No. 1062-02 September 2002 (Amended to Bylaw No. 1153-08, April 2009) Prepared by the September 2002 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. INTRODUCTION A. Location .................................................................................................................... 1 B. The Evolution of Local Land Use Policies ............................................................... 1 C. Why Prepare a Municipal Development Plan? ........................................................ 2 D. What Does a Municipal Development Plan Address? ............................................. 3 E. Municipal Development Plans and the Planning Hierarchy ..................................... 5 F. Municipal Development Plan Preparation Process.................................................. 5 II. DEFINITIONS, GOAL AND OBJECTIVES A. Definitions ................................................................................................................ 7 B. Goal .......................................................................................................................... 9 C. Objectives ................................................................................................................ 9 III. MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN POLICIES A. Waiver of Municipal Development Plan Policies ...................................................... 13 B. General Future Land Use ........................................................................................ 13 C. Proposals for Future Land Use in the Municipality .................................................. 14 D. Coordination With Adjacent Municipalities ............................................................... 14 E. Transportation .......................................................................................................... 14 F. Forestry Reserve and Other Public Lands ............................................................... 15 G. Urban Fringe ............................................................................................................ 15 H. Hamlets .................................................................................................................... 16 General ............................................................................................................. 16 Beaver Mines ................................................................................................... 16 Lundbreck......................................................................................................... 17 Pincher Station ................................................................................................. 17 Twin Butte ........................................................................................................ 17 I. Environmentally Significant Areas ........................................................................... 17 J. Provision of Municipal Services and Utilities ........................................................... 18 K. Resource Conservation and Natural Resources ..................................................... 18 Agriculture ........................................................................................................ 18 Page Non-Renewable Resources ............................................................................. 18 Water Resources ............................................................................................. 19 Historic Resources ........................................................................................... 19 Wind Energy ..................................................................................................... 19 L. Residential Density .................................................................................................. 20 Dwellings Per Parcel ........................................................................................ 20 Minimum Residential Parcel Size .................................................................... 21 M. Country Residences ................................................................................................. 21 Grouped Country Residential is Prohibited Unless Area is Designated .......... 21 Grouped Country Residential Designation Criteria .......................................... 21 N. Industrial Development in Rural Areas .................................................................... 23 O. Commercial Development in Rural Areas ................................................................ 24 P. Confined Feeding Operations (CFOs) ..................................................................... 25 Q. Municipal and Environmental Reserves .................................................................. 25 R. Subdivision Policies ................................................................................................. 27 Application of Subdivision Policies ................................................................... 27 General Requirements for All Subdivisions ..................................................... 27 Variances of Minimum Residual Agricultural Lot Size ..................................... 28 Subdivision of Agricultural Land for Extensive Agricultural Use ...................... 28 Allowable Country Residential Subdivisions .................................................... 28 Subdivision of a Single Residential Lot from an Unsubdivided Quarter Section ............................................................................................. 28 Subdivision of a Single Residential Lot from a Subdivided Quarter Section ............................................................................................. 29 Subdivision of Fragmented Parcels ................................................................. 29 Rural Industrial and Commercial Subdivisions ................................................ 29 Subdivision of Confined Feeding Operations................................................... 30 Property Realignment ...................................................................................... 30 APPENDIX 1 – Figures of Subdivision Examples MAP 1 – Regional Location .................................................................................. following 2 MAP 2 – Guide Map ............................................................................................... following 2 MAP 3 – Confined Feeding Operations Prohibited Areas ................................. following 26 SCHEDULE A MUNICIPAL DISTRICT OF PINCHER CREEK NO. 9 MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN I. INTRODUCTION A. LOCATION The Municipal District of Pincher Creek is located in the southwestern portion of the province as shown on Map 1. It contains both foothills and prairie lands making flexible decision making an important aspect of the plan. Map 2 shows some of the main features of the municipal district including: • Highways 3, 22 and 6; • the urban municipalities including the Town of Pincher Creek and Village of Cowley; • the Hamlet areas of Beaver Mines, Lowland Heights, Lundbreck, Pincher Station and Twin Butte; • part of the Bow Crow Forest; • on the south boundary of the municipal district, Waterton National Park; • the Burmis Lundbreck Area Structure Plan; • main water bodies; • provincial parks. B. THE EVOLUTION OF LOCAL LAND USE POLICIES To understand why the Municipal District of Pincher Creek No. 9 (M.D. 9) has chosen to prepare a Municipal development plan (MDP) it is useful to review, from the M.D.’s perspective, the evolution of land use policies at the local, regional and provincial levels. In the early 1960s, the M.D. adopted an Interim Development Control Bylaw. These bylaws were originally conceived to allow flexible control of development while work on a General Plan was progressing. As such, they were a distinct alternative to the traditional zoning bylaws that were in use in many urban municipalities at the time. But instead of preparing a General Plan for the municipality, the M.D., along with other rural municipalities in southwestern Alberta, became involved in the preparation of a Preliminary Regional Plan that the Regional Planning Commission was required to produce in consultation with the affected municipalities. The predecessors to the Regional Planning Commissions, namely the District Planning Commissions, were established in the 1950s and early 1960s to bring order to fringe development and haphazard rural subdivision around major urban centres. Over time, these Commissions assumed additional responsibilities including subdivision approval and the Municipal District of Pincher Creek No. 9 Municipal Development Plan Bylaw No. 1062-02 Page 1 preparation of a Preliminary Regional Plan. In southwestern Alberta, the perceived need for rural municipal General Plans was deferred following the adoption of the Oldman River Region’s Preliminary Regional Plan in 1974. This plan, at the time, was often viewed as an effective and efficient substitute for rural General Plans in each of the rural municipalities. But by the early 1980s, increased concern about local autonomy, especially elsewhere in the Province, had replaced concerns that planning decisions should be somewhat removed from the local political environment. M.D. 9 adopted its first General Municipal Plan (GMP) in 1987. As the community’s first plan, the GMP was neither comprehensive nor exhaustive. Council’s decision to prepare such a plan,