The Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP) has agreed to enter into a mediation process in an attempt to bring surrounding municipalities to the table and reach an agreement on the Calgary Metropolitan Plan (CMP).
The CRP developed the CMP, which was approved in 2009, to establish a framework to guide the region forward to ensure growth occurs in a sustainable manner.
Some regions, however, including Rocky View County (RVC) and the M.D. of Foothills, chose not to join the collaborative network, sitting now at 14 members and includes the municipalities of Cochrane, Canmore, Redwood Meadows and Airdrie, among others.
Rolly Ashdown, RVC reeve, said the county elected to remain on the sidelines because of two main factors: densities and governance.
Ashdown said density suggestions by the CRP – eight to 10 units per acre – do not mesh with the rural setting of the county.
The CRP’s method of governance, which for a vote to pass requires the majority of its members and 50 per cent of the population, is another point of contention for Ashdown, who pointed out that Calgary alone holds over 50 per cent of the CRP’s population, leaving all other member communities on the outside looking in.
Truper McBride, Cochrane mayor and CRP chair, said he hopes an agreement will be reached on the plan.
“We all certainly want to have the rural municipalities come back to the partnership,” he said.
McBride added that the CMP does not dictate levels of growth to any specific municipality, and that each identifies its own growth centres, and that is then reflected in the plan.
McBride also said that if mediation fails, the provincial government will then take it upon itself to find a solution.
Density and governance aside, Ashdown is optimistic about the upcoming mediation process.
“This is a very good thing,” he said. “This would be our first opportunity to sit at the table.”
The suggestion to enter into mediation was presented to the CRP by Alberta’s minister of municipal affairs, Doug Griffiths.
Rural municipalities must also agree to enter into the mediation process, which is set to commence in March and conclude by June.
The CRP said in a media release that it hopes RVC and the M.D. of Foothills can reach an agreement on the CMP.
“We need everyone working together to prepare for the more than three million people expected to live in the Calgary region over the next 60 years,” the release indicated. “This mediation should be the end of a long process of negotiations.”
The CRP pointed toward what it called ‘several efforts’ to bring rural municipalities to the discussion table over the years, but said none of the offers or proposed amendments to the CMP were accepted by RVC or the M.D. of Foothills.
