Some Bragg Creek residents who live along the Elbow River left a Rocky View County (RVC) open house regarding riparian policy and proposed new development setbacks with more questions than answers.
RVC senior planner Richard Barss hosted a riparian policy open house in Bragg Creek Oct. 9 to inform residents about the county’s proposed land-use bylaw to protect riparian areas (land adjacent to streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands where vegetation and soils are strongly influenced by water) by implementing county-wide development setbacks from these bodies of water.
Barss said the purpose of the Bragg Creek session, the last of five held across the county from Oct. 2 to 9, was to seek input from and educate residents about the benefits of protecting waterways, as well as the lands and properties that border them. These setbacks would affect landowners’ buildings including homes, barns, garages, as well as septic fields, water wells and storm water ponds.
Based on provincial guidelines and determined by soil type, Barss said the setbacks, measured from the stream’s centre, for streams would be 30 meters if the soil is glacial till and 60 meters if the soil was alluvial sediments.
Exceptions would exist along the Elbow and Bow rivers, and Bragg Creek, where the same setbacks would be measured from the bank’s edge and a development permit would be required.
RVC’s Greater Bragg Creek Area Structure Plan (GBCASP) bylaw came into effect in 2007 and restricts and regulates development through riparian zone buffers. The buffer for all streams, tributaries and wetlands is 30 meters measured from the high water mark.
Within the hamlet, the buffer is 50 meters along the Elbow River and 30 meters for Bragg Creek extending beyond the floodway. Barss said for properties located in floodways, where flood mapping exists, the setback would be the riparian setback or the floodway – whichever is greater.
Bragg Creek resident Linda Thompson lives along the Elbow River on River Drive South and said if this new policy is enforced the riparian areas would encompass her entire lot. “We respect the value of riparian rights, but we also don’t want them to claim more and more of our property,” said Thompson.
Thompson said she was concerned about the potential restrictions placed on her property and how those restrictions would affect the resale value of their home. “We still feel fairly confused about the future of our property and what we can do with it,” she said. “They didn’t really have firm answers.”
Barss said if residents’ homes are located in the riparian zone and they want to renovate in the future they could build sideways or back.
