In an effort to mitigate potential conflicts between land uses, Rocky View County (RVC) is preparing new Agricultural Boundary Design Guidelines. The project has been in the works since the beginning of the year and a draft is now available on the rockyview.ca website.
Interested residents can also attend an open house at the municipal building Sept. 9 to learn more, and to provide input before the document is brought to council.
“This set of guidelines will provide a simple process when someone is preparing an application for redesignation, subdivision or a development permit,” said Tim Dietzler, agricultural fieldman with RVC. “The goal is to try and eliminate conflicts that could occur between agricultural and non-agricultural uses.”
According to Dietzler, the need for these guidelines was identified during the development of the Agriculture Master Plan in 2011 and directed as an action item in the County Plan, which was adopted in 2013.
“When potential problems are thought about and addressed early, the enjoyment of the property and its amenities are increased, and the ease of operation for agricultural uses are not impacted,” Dietzler said.
The development of the Agriculture Master Plan and the County Plan both provided significant research and input from landowners and producers, which Dietzler said is being used to create the draft guidelines.
Additional input was also gathered from a small focus group made up of representatives of Agricultural Service Board farm members, local development consultants, and County staff.
“Part of the stakeholder input was to help us rethink and refine many of the comments that came in from the development of the Agriculture Master Plan,” Dietzler said.
“We are hoping that the open house will help verify that the process we’ve put together is realistic and useful, and we are looking forward to having stakeholders and residents come in to tell us what they like about this plan, or what they see as impediments for us, moving ahead.”
Dietzler and other members of RVC administration who developed the draft will be available at the open house Sept. 9 from 4:30 until 8 p.m. to answer questions and receive feedback from residents. Copies of the document will be available there, as well as a number of display boards with information for county residents to view.
Stakeholder circulation ends Sept. 21, and Dietzler said input received from both the circulation and the open house will be reviewed and a report will be presented to council in October or November, with an anticipated implementation date of Jan. 1, 2016.
