Land Use Bylaw Refresh
You provided input! Find out what you told the Town!
Survey 1
Survey Results can be found here: The results are in!
Community involvement and participation in the refresh process is essential to ensuring that the LUB regulates development with a made-in-Peace River approach to our unique land use challenges and needs. An initial public survey was your first opportunity to provide feedback and bring forward any specific issues that are of importance to you. This gives project staff the chance to include a full scope of issues in this bylaw review. The results of the survey will inform the content of the Refreshed Land Use Bylaw, which continues to be drafted at this time. Subsequent to the draft bylaw being prepared, a second survey will request feedback on the specifics of the bylaw and provide another opportunity for input into the document, before it is formally presented to Council.
More information on the bylaw and the process of the refresh are below.
What is the Land Use Bylaw?
Peace River is a community with natural features and distinctive development patterns that uniquely influence future development opportunities. Town administration has initiated a comprehensive “refresh” of the Land Use Bylaw (LUB) to ensure that it is effective in regulating land uses and development within the Town.
The Land Use Bylaw (LUB) is the “book of rules” for development of land and buildings in the Town of Peace River. The contents of the LUB must follow the direction set by the Municipal Development Plan. The LUB regulates how land can be used, what and where buildings can be built. The LUB aims to balance landowner’s rights with the interests of the community.
Why does the LUB need to be “refreshed”?
Land Use Bylaws should be a dynamic document that responds to development trends and changing community interests. The last major update to the bylaw was in 2012. Administration has identified a number of issues with the current bylaw. The LUB is being reviewed to provide greater clarity and consistency in an easy to read, updated document that reflects contemporary land use planning and development practices. The review of other land use bylaws within the province has brought forward a number of best practices that the Town aims to integrate into the bylaw. These issues and identified best practices merit an overhaul of the bylaw, rather than continued individual amendments.
How will this affect me?
The proposed changes will have little effect on the majority residents and landowners unless you are expecting to undertake a development in the future. However, the refresh may update development related processes and you may see certain things done differently, in particular how the community is notified of development approvals.
Process
The “refresh” of the LUB is a significant project that will take 1 to 2 years to complete. The key process milestones are outlined below.
Provide Your Input
Community involvement and participation in the refresh process is essential to ensuring that the LUB regulates development with a made-in-Peace River approach to our unique land use challenges and needs.
An initial public survey is your first opportunity to provide feedback and bring forward any specific issues that are of importance to you. This will give project staff the chance to include a full scope of issues in this bylaw review. Please fill in the survey!
If you have any general questions about the project, please contact Alisha Mody, in the Planning and Development department at 780-624-2574.