Municipal Planning and Environmental Autonomy

An update on provincial paramountcy and its implications for progressive environmental planning and decision making

The Issue / Idea

The Municipal Government Act (MGA) enables municipal powers over land use planning which has direct implications for the environment. At the same time the MGA limits the ability of municipalities to meet their planning objectives by curtailing municipal powers with respect to the environment where provincial authorizations are also at play. To what extent can provincial authorizations undermine municipal decision-making on the environment?

The Project

This project highlights select legislative changes to the MGA and discusses how they may undermine municipal autonomy over environmental outcomes. Some of these legislative changes occurred as recently as 2020 while others date back to the early 1990s. This report describes these changes and the resulting implications for municipal planning and decision-making. The question that underpins the report is whether we have gone too far in limiting municipal powers to set a planning agenda that acts to protect the environment.

Municipal Planning and Environmental Autonomy: An update on provincial paramountcy and its implications for progressive environmental planning and decision making

Organization

This project was undertaken by

The Environmental Law Centre

Status

Completed in

May 2021

Supporters

Max Bell Foundation

Anonymous Foundation

Roadside Management for Pollinator Habitat in Alberta

A review of current research and management that promotes roadside pollinator habitat

The Issue / Idea

Managing and/or restoring roadsides for pollinator habitat.

The Project

Pollinators contribute to food security, biodiversity maintenance and ecosystem resiliency in addition to their social and cultural value. However, pollinators, particularly native populations, are declining around the world due to threats from habitat loss and land use practices. Roadsides, and other marginal lands, are not traditionally managed to support biodiversity or pollinators. However, these lands provide a unique conservation opportunity to continue serving their traditional purposes, while also supporting native pollinator populations.

Roadside restoration for pollinators was identified as a topic of interest to municipalities in Alberta through Community Conserve. We initiated a survey to determine what type of projects municipalities in Alberta are currently undertaking to support pollinator populations and conducted a literature review to summarize beneficial management practices in roadside maintenance and restoration for pollinator habitat. As well, relevant case studies and resources were gathered to guide municipalities interested in pursuing roadside pollinator projects.

Roadside Management for Pollinator Habitat in Alberta

Organization

This project was undertaken by

The Miistakis Institute

Status

Completed in

May 2021

Supporters

Max Bell Foundation

Anonymous Foundation

Environmental Reserves and Environmental Reserve Easements

A discussion of regulatory context and application

The Issue / Idea

Environmental Reserves and Environmental Reserve Easements are regulatory tools used during subdivision for various environmental and safety purposes. How the legislation is framed and interpreted by municipalities will direct how ER and ERE are used.

The Project

Alberta’s Municipal Government Act sets out a variety of powers for municipalities to safely and sustainably plan and develop land. Among these is the power to reserve lands. This report takes an in-depth look at one such reserve, the Environmental Reserve (ER), along with its counterpart the Environmental Reserve Easement (ERE).

An ER is land that is transferred from the landowner to the municipality in the subdivision process, for one or more applicable reasons. An ERE is another form of ER that gives an interest in the land to the municipality while permitting ownership to stay with the landowner. Both ER and ERE are important planning tools that can help municipalities “foster the well-being of the environment” by preserving natural features of land and preventing water pollution, as well as permit public access to water bodies and prevent development in unsafe or unstable areas. This report aims to promote the effective use of ER and ERE by explaining when they apply, how they are implemented and how they are enforced.

Report: Municipal Management of Industrial Development

Organization

This project was undertaken by

The Environmental Law Centre

Status

Completed in

April 2021

Supporters

Max Bell Foundation

Anonymous Foundation

Municipal Wetlands Data Strategy

Using wetlands data in municipal planning and wetland conservation

The Issue / Idea

Wetlands data is either unavailable or inappropriate to meet municipalities needs for planning and wetland conservation.

The Project

A problem faced by many (all?) municipalities in the Bow River Basin – urban or rural – is that wetlands data is either unavailable or inappropriate to meet their needs for municipal planning and wetland conservation.

The Miistakis Institute convened a workshop for municipal personnel in the Bow River Basin to collectively better understand what the wetlands data challenges are, and to collaboratively plot a course forward to address these needs.

The day involved presentations on the current situation, working sessions to clarify municipal needs, and ended with an effort to frame a strategy for securing municipally-relevant wetlands data.

The project was completed with the creation of a strategy for securing accessible, usable, current, consistent wetlands data.

Bow Basin Municipal Wetland Datasets: A strategy for securing accessible, usable, current, consistent wetlands data

Additional Wetlands Data Resources

*Wetlands Datasets in the Bow River Basin: A Preliminary Catalogue of Wetlands Datasets Available to Municipalities*

*Wetlands Data Needs and Issues: A survey of Municipalities in the Bow River Basin*

*Municipal Wetlands Data / Survey Results – Presentation Slide Deck*

*Policy, Potential, Practice and Power: How Municipalities Fit into the Wetland Management Puzzle – Presentation Slide Deck*

Organization

This project was undertaken by

The Miistakis Institute

Status

This research was completed in

June 2020

Supporters

Alberta Innovates – Water Innovation Program

Ecological Connectivity – Modelling, Planning and Municipalities

Three guides to help to clear some of the cloudiness around ecological connectivity and municipal planning

The Issue / Idea

Municipalities face challenges in finding practical guidance for integrating ecological connectivity into the structures and practical realities of municipal planning.

The Project

Every municipal planning department in the Calgary region has faced the challenge of addressing ecological connectivity.

It can start from a variety of directions – open house feedback, a councilor request, a regional planning requirement, etc. It can carry many labels: wildlife corridors, linkage zones, structural and functional connectivity. However, two things are common to all of these cases. First, it is always based on the notion that species need to move to stay healthy and viable. Second, what a municipal planner can or should do about this is not clear.

As part of the Calgary Regional Partnership’s Ecological Conservation and Protection Initiative, Miistakis created three guides to help to clear some of the cloudiness around ecological connectivity and municipal planning.

As well as supporting municipal planners, these guides are intended to help those working with planners or who are affected by municipal plans. Understanding the way ecological connectivity is viewed through the lens of municipal planning will help others (including municipal councilors, wildlife biologists, conservation groups, land developers and builders) better understand the decisions and options that emerge in the planning realm.

Planning to Connect: A guide to provide clarity on what ecological connectivity might mean for a municipality, which plans and policies to target, and how. It also includes a searchable catalogue of example clauses from other jurisdictions and a document library of sample plans, reports, strategies, and cases from which to learn

Pulling the Levers: A Guide to Modelling and Mapping Ecological Connectivity outlines how the science can be used to give municipalities map-based illustrations of ecological connectivity.

Connecting the Dots: A Guide to Using Ecological Connectivity Modeling in Municipal Planning outlines how planners can acquire and use that information to address planning questions, working in partnership with their GIS staff or consultants.

Planning to Connect: A Guide to Incorporating Ecological Connectivity into Municipal Planning

Policy Clause Catalogue

Pulling the Levers: A Guide to Modelling and Mapping Ecological Connectivity

Connecting the Dots: A Guide to Using Ecological Connectivity Modeling in Municipal Planning

Organization

This project was undertaken by

The Miistakis Institute

Status

Completed in

2019

Supporters

Woodcock Foundation

CRP Regional Ecoplan

A project to outline how the region’s valued ecological features and functions could be maintained, and to do so by identifying measurable targets, describing specific actions that can be taken by the Calgary Regional Partnership and its members

The Issue / Idea

How can municipalities maintain their valued ecological features and functions in the face of population growth?

The Project

In 2014, Miistakis began working with the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP) on an implementation plan for the Calgary Metropolitan Plan’s first principle: “Protecting the natural environment and watershed.”

In a region that is projected to receive another 1.6 million people over the next 60 years, it was recognized it would be a significant challenge to determine how to actually approach achieving this principle, as well as how to know if it has been accomplished.

The Ecological Conservation and Protection Plan (later renamed the CRP Regional EcoPlan) was created to outline how the region’s valued ecological features and functions could be maintained, and to do so by identifying measurable targets, describing specific actions that can be taken by the CRP and its members at both the regional and local level, and by integrating directly with the Calgary Metropolitan Plan.

The Ecological Conservation Themes – the backbone to the plan – were established and, as well as the plan framework, and the target-setting approach approved by the CRP Executive in September 2017.

CRP Regional EcoPlan: A Summary of the Ecological Conservation and Protection Plan

CRP Regional EcoPlan: Themes – Detailed

Measuring Up: A Preliminary Assessment of Potential CRP EcoPlan Sub-Theme Measures

CRP EcoPlan: Strategies Catalogue: Summary Description

Proposed Target-setting Process for the CRP Regional EcoPlan

Organization

This project was undertaken by

The Miistakis Institute

Status

Completed in

2017

Supporters

Calgary Regional Partnership

Municipal Conservation Easement Program

A Guide to help municipalities create a conservation easement program

The Issue / Idea

How can municipalities help landowners conserve their land for the future by using a conservation easement?

The Project

Flagstaff County in east-central Alberta has been working towards better protecting the valuable landscapes within its communities. After being approached by a local landowner about granting a conservation easement to the County, Flagstaff approached Miistakis about helping them establish a Conservation Easement program (municipalities are ‘qualified organizations’ under the Alberta Land Stewardship Act, eligible to hold conservation easements).

Working with the County’s Agricultural Service Board, Miistakis helped them draft a conservation easement bylaw, and tailor the policy to their draft Municipal Development Plan.

Once the decision was made to go ahead with implementation, Miistakis worked with the County to identify the conservation goals, and specific administrative needs. Miistakis then developed several implementation resources including a program procedures manual, a conservation easement template, a Baseline Documentation Report manual and template, a monitoring template, and several other templates and resources.

Flagstaff County is now moving ahead to negotiate conservation easements with interested ratepayers in their community.

Flagstaff County Conservation Easement Program: Procedures Manual

Flagstaff County Conservation Easement Program: Conservation Easement Checklists

Organization

This project was undertaken by

The Miistakis Institute

Status

Completed in

2017

Supporters

Flagstaff County

Distributed GIS for Calgary Region Municipalities

Providing support for the Calgary Regional Partnerships’ Regional Metadata Guidelines

The Issue / Idea

How can municipalities in the Calgary Region effectively share and use GIS data?

The Project

In 2009, the Miistakis Institute began supporting the Calgary Regional Partnerships’ development of Regional Metadata Guidelines for GIS data management (Regional GIS or RGIS) to support planning within the Calgary region. The project’s objectives were to:

- Create mechanism for cataloguing, exchanging spatial data
- Support and facilitate other CRP initiatives
- Promote standards & best practices among CRP GIS Community

Throughout the project, Miistakis was involved in all technical meetings, developed a Metadata Best Practices Guide and developed a variety of other technical tools and templates that allow for data sharing between municipalities.

Metadata Best Practices Guide

Organization

This project was undertaken by

The Miistakis Institute

Status

Completed in

2011

Supporters

Calgary Regional Partnership

Transfer of Development Credits

A tool to help communities deal with rapid conversion of their valued landscapes, while simultaneously promoting appropriate landscape development

The Issue / Idea

How can municipalities deal with the rapid conversion of their valued landscapes, while simultaneously promoting appropriate landscape development?

The Project

The Transfer of Development Credits (TDC) tool is designed to help communities deal with the rapid conversion of their valued landscapes, while simultaneously promoting appropriate landscape development. The tool allows for the transfer of development potential from areas less suited to development (based on a community desire to see its character and function maintained), to areas more suited to increased development (based on their capacity to accept greater development activity).

The TDC website was developed as a resource for Alberta communities, to assist them in better understanding what a TDC program is, and how it can be used to conserve valued landscapes.

A Practical Guide to Transfer of Development Credits (TDCs) in Alberta

Organization

This project was undertaken by

Miistakis Institute

Status

Completed in

2013

Supporters

Alberta Real Estate Foundation

Anonymous Donor

Cost of Community Services

How many dollars of revenue does a municipality get for every dollar of service expenditure for different types of land use? The Cost of Community Services (COCS) methodology assesses this.

The Issue / Idea

Because different land use types generate vastly different revenues, it can be difficult to know which if any one of them ‘pays for itself’ relative to the costs it incurs for the municipality.

The Project

The Miistakis Institute explored this question by undertaking a “Cost of Community Services Study” for Red Deer County. After a detailed review of background documents and financial records, and extensive interviewing of all Red Deer County Managers and Directors, Red Deer County’s audited financials for a single year were re-allocated based on land use. Expenditures and revenues were divided between four land use categories (Residential, Commercial, Industrial, and Agricultural) and the results were used to create revenue/cost ratios.

The intent of this study is to support the development of land use planning approaches which best serve the community. Red Deer County can use this study with other information to maintain a healthy balance of land uses for the County. At the policy level, the study can assist in the development of a vision for the community; at the operational level, it can help assess whether resource allocations match policy priorities.

The Fiscal Implications of Land Use: A “Cost of Community Services” Study for Red Deer County: Main Report

The Fiscal Implications of Land Use: A “Cost of Community Services” Study for Red Deer County: Report 3: Methodology

The Fiscal Implications of Land Use: A “Cost of Community Services” Study for Red Deer County: Report 4: A Comparative Analysis of the Red Deer County COCS Study and Previous COCS Studies