Sturgeon County is pulling out of a nine-year-old planning agreement with the City of St. Albert.
Councillors voted unanimously on Thursday to start the process toward repealing the Sturgeon-St. Albert intermunicipal development plan (IDP).
The IDP has been a long-standing agreement between St. Albert and Sturgeon County that governs development in a fringe area around the city. It allows the two communities to review proposed developments in a 2,666-hectare footprint, a situation that has led to development delays in both communities.
Earlier this year, the two communities proposed amending the plan with two changes. One would remove all 1,337 hectares of land St. Albert annexed from Sturgeon in 2007; the other proposed freeing two planned acreage subdivisions, Quail Ridge and Northern Lights, from the plan's scope.
When those proposed amendments were announced they came under heavy fire from county residents, whose land would still have been subject to the agreement as opposed to landowners in St. Albert.
County administration recommended repealing the bylaw, a motion Coun. Don McGeachy put on the floor, saying the agreement simply no longer worked for Sturgeon or St. Albert.
"It is time to put this baby to bed; she has been crying for a while. I think this is the best thing for the county," he said.
60 days notice
The agreement has always had a process allowing one side to opt-out with 60 days notice, which the county has now invoked. For the bylaw to be officially repealed, St. Albert and Sturgeon must hold a joint committee meeting. A public hearing is also required within 60 days, before Sturgeon can consider giving three readings to repeal.
The IDP was initially established in 2001 at the suggestion of Alberta Municipal Affairs. The document was supposed to establish a plan for future annexations.
Following the meeting, Sturgeon County Mayor Don Rigney said he believed with the provisions already in place in the Municipal Government Act and the new guidelines the Capital Region Board has established there is no reason to continue with the IDP.
