The Governance Committee for Rocky View County (RVC) has voted to discontinue the Business Live-Work District and Special Function Business categories in their current form and exclude them as options for permitted land uses through the development permit process.
The proposed amendment of the existing bylaw associated with these business categories will still have to be officially adopted at future meeting of RVC council after a public hearing.
Prior to the vote on June 13, RVC’s supervisor of planning and development, Justin Rubello, reiterated to committee members the problems the County has been having with these two types of business categories over the past year.
“The Business Live-Work District, Special Function Business use and certain home-based businesses have been challenging for the County,” he explained. “This is primarily due to the overall location and intensity of businesses that have led to the development not being secondary to the residential or agricultural use, which is the purpose and intent of these uses.”
He added many of these uses include large, outdoor storage facilities and light industrial uses.
The Business Live-Work District has been particularly problematic for the County since being introduced a few years ago as certain types of light industrial businesses have popped up in areas formerly dedicated solely to residential or agricultural uses.
Rubello said of the five development permits issued under Business Live-Work District, four of them have now been targeted by County enforcement officers for non-compliance with the requirements of the category.
“From an enforcement perspective, they have also led to increased challenges to implement, monitor, and enforce the development permit conditions,” he told the committee. “These are large sites that have large and intense activities, proving hard to mitigate areas of noise and to enforce visual screening of the site.”
RVC has also received regular complaints about Special Function Businesses, Rubello said, such as event planners who use agricultural land for hosting large-scale events in normally quiet country residential areas – complaints that have led to various appeals to the County’s Subdivision and Development Appeal Board.
Rubello acknowledged some of these Special Function Businesses have been operating for a number of years in the county, and thus RVC staff were suggesting that a transition period up to Dec, 31, 2026 be granted so these businesses may have time to locate to a more appropriate location.
Committee member and Division 5 Coun. Greg Boehlke felt this requirement to close or relocate an existing Special Function Business within the next three years was a step too far.
“These are home-based businesses. So we are telling people in 2026 if you want to continue, you are going to have to move.” he said. “Is that realistic? I don’t understand how you are going to tell somebody they have to move.”
Committee member and Division 7 Coun. Al Schule agreed with Boehlke, and felt it might drive businesses – both Business Live-Work District and Special Function Businesses – toward leaving the county or avoid investing in the county in the first place.
Committee vice-chair and Division 4 Coun. Samanntha Wright did not feel that was necessarily a bad thing, in some cases.
“If they are receiving complaints from the neighbourhood and potentially changing the neighbourhood, perhaps they should go somewhere else to some degree,” she stated.
Committee member and Division 6 Coun. Sunny Samra introduced the motion to recommend to RVC council that it remove the Business Live-Work District and Special Function Business categories as they currently stand, and for County staff to explore more appropriate policies on the potential siting of such businesses within a future municipal development plan.
Schule said he could not support the motion because of its negative consequences for existing businesses.
“I am not sure Live-Work is a bad thing,” he stated. “I think our biggest issue is doing development permits, and we are not following up or following through with enforcement.”
However, Schule was outvoted. Committee members voted to adopt Samra’s motion by a vote of 3-2, with Schule and Boehlke opposed.
Besides Wright and Samra, Governance Committee chair and Division 2 Coun. Don Kochan also supported the motion.
