TAMRMS#: B06
9.1
REQUEST FOR DECISION
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Bylaw 18/2024 Land Use Bylaw (1st Reading)
Presented by: Brian Conger, Community Planning Manager, ISL Engineering & Land Services; Adryan Slaght, Managing Director, Planning & Infrastructure, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer; Colin Krywiak, Development Branch Manager, Planning & Development; Chelsea Thompson, Development Officer II, Planning & Development; Barb Dupuis, Planner, Planning & Development
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RECOMMENDED MOTION(S)
recommendation
That Bylaw 18/2024 be read a first time.
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SUMMARY
This report discusses the proposed new Land Use Bylaw (LUB), and the corresponding engagement process. These amendments require a public hearing and Council’s approval as per the requirements in the Municipal Government Act (MGA).
Land Use Bylaw 9/2005 was adopted in 2005, and in the 19 years since it was adopted, changes have taken place in the typical style of development. While there have been numerous one-off changes to the LUB over time, this is the first comprehensive overhaul of the document in almost 20 years.
The new Land Use Bylaw has been drafted to align with the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Growth Plan and Flourish Municipal Development Plan (MDP).
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL DIRECTION OR MANDATORY STATUTORY PROVISION
The Municipal Government Act RSA 2000, CM-26 section 640(1) requires that every municipality must pass a Land Use Bylaw.
The Municipal Government Act RSA 2000, CM-26 section 623(b) requires that a Council must establish a development authority to exercise development powers on behalf of the municipality.
The Municipal Government Act, Planning Bylaws, section 692(1) states:
Before giving second reading to:
(e) a proposed land use bylaw
a council must hold a public hearing with respect to the proposed bylaw in accordance with section 216.4 after giving notice of it in accordance with section 606.
June 2022
At the Community Growth & Infrastructure Standing Committee meeting of June 13, 2022, committee passed the following motions:
AR-22-209
That the Community Growth & Infrastructure Standing Committee recommend to Council that the agenda report dated June 13, 2022, entitled "Land Use Bylaw Update 2022" be received as information.
The previously distributed agenda report for this meeting can be found as attachment 3.
July 2023
At the Standing Committee of the Whole meeting of July 11, 2023, committee passed the following motions:
AR-23-360
That the agenda report dated July 11, 2023, be received as information.
The previously distributed agenda report for this meeting can be found as attachment 4.
April 2024
At the Standing Committee of the Whole meeting of April 9, 2024, committee passed the following motions:
AR-24-113
That Administration review the possibility of enabling front drive zero lot lines within the Small Lot Residential district in the new Land Use Bylaw.
That Administration consider reducing parking requirements to encourage or enable affordable housing in the new Land Use Bylaw.
That Administration review the possibility of enabling density bonuses in the Downtown District in the new Land Use Bylaw.
The previously distributed agenda report for this meeting can be found as attachment 5.
A report exploring the actions Administration took from this direction can be found as attachment 6. Administration has identified concerns with implementing front access zero lot-line product, as detailed in Appendix 1 of attachment 6.
June 2024
At the Standing Committee of the Whole meeting of June 11, 2024, committee passed the following motion:
AR-24-249
That Administration align the new Land Use Bylaw with the amendments for election signage outlined in Bylaw 15/2024.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
In November 2021, the Land Use Bylaw update project was initiated. The goals of the project were to:
• Incorporate the policies of Flourish Municipal Development Plan;
• Overall housekeeping, and updates; and
• Creating a web friendly document.
Additionally, through the course of the project it was decided to:
• Repeal the Development Authority Bylaw, and incorporate the contents within the LUB.
The draft land use bylaw, and land use map can be found as attachments 1 and 2, respectively.
1. Incorporating the Policies of Flourish Municipal Development Plan
An overview of how the MDP policies in each section have been incorporated into the draft LUB can be found below. Not all policies in the MDP were within the scope of this project, but many were, and a brief overview is detailed below.
a. Green Environment
o Administration is proposing a new district, called the Conservation (CON) District, for valued and protected environmental features. Several city-owned parcels are proposed to be redistricted to this new district, as shown on attachment 13.
o Aligned the Municipal Engineering Standards and the Land Use Bylaw regarding landscaping. New landscaping regulations are proposed for multifamily residential sites.
o The project team has proposed a regulation to require full-cut off lighting fixtures, with the intent that light will be directed down towards the ground for new development, and be more dark sky friendly. An exception may be made for architectural lighting that highlights building features.
b. Robust Economy
o Created two new employment districts, called the Business Park 1 (BP1) and Industrial (IND) districts, which will allow more choice for rezoning applications for employment lands.
o Expanded on existing regulations to enable home-based business and entrepreneurship. Proposing to allow employees in Home-based business level two and three.
c. Housing Options
o Consolidated and simplified residential districts for clarity and flexibility.
o Accommodated a greater mix of housing in neighborhoods, by introducing triplexes and fourplexes, on corner lots with lane access, in the Low-Density Residential (LDR), and Laned-Lot Residential (LLR) Districts. These modest-scale buildings are expected to blend in with existing low-density development in established areas.
o Enabled specialized accommodation and care facilities in all Neighbourhoods, Trail Corridor Areas, and Mixed-use Nodes to promote inclusive communities.
o Expanded secondary suite options, by introducing one suite in semi-detached and duplex homes, and allowing the option for two suites in the LDR District (on a lot with a single-detached dwelling), as long as one suite is contained within the home.
d. Mobility Choices
o Goal is to right-size parking requirements. Proposing overall parking reductions, with the highest reductions in the Downtown District. Reductions were proposed for both residential and non-residential uses.
o Reduced parking ratios for affordable non-market housing units, and studio apartments.
o Provide additional clarity regarding bicycle parking requirements.
o Implemented a general pedestrian access section, which details how private lands shall connect to public facilities.
e. Cultural Richness
o Consolidated several land use districts into the Downtown District, and updated the Land Use Bylaw regulations to reflect the policies of the MDP and the vision of the DARP.
o Made note of historic resources within the draft LUB - provided a definition, and identified that in some cases, a historical resource assessment, heritage assessment or related study may be required.
o The majority of cultural resources are handled through individual Municipal Historic Resources Bylaws, which can be found on the Bylaws page of the website.
f. Resilient Infrastructure
o Support and enable the adoption of renewable energy sources. Changes are proposed to solar collectors (can be attached to a building or freestanding, but must not track the sun).
o Align Land Use Bylaw and Municipal Engineering Standards to enable and encourage green infrastructure.
o Allow green building products or technologies to be used as a density bonusing option.
o Proposed requirements for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in the parking section.
g. Community Well-Being
o Remove regulatory barriers to supportive housing models. The team has proposed consolidated definitions, and added supportive housing and group homes as permitted uses in most residential and mixed-use districts.
o Support food security, availability, and entrepreneurship through urban agriculture. A new use, ‘community garden’, is proposed, and was added as a permitted use in many districts. This is to meet Flourish MDP Policy 11.6.01 and 11.6.02. This means the use can now be standalone (as the only use on a parcel). At this time, community gardens emphasize not-for-profit food production.
h. Great Places
o Design mixed-use, civic, and commercial districts for people, not cars. The proposal has resulted in reduced setbacks (in some cases), taller buildings designed with podiums for a human scale, and proposed parking reductions.
o The integration of residential, commercial, retail, and office uses is now possible in the proposed expanded range of mixed-use districts. Adding options for non-residential uses allows for services and businesses to be located adjacent to the customers they serve. The overall goal was to try and create a live-work-play node within a neighborhood. The two proposed districts are called Mixed-Use Level 1 (MU1), and Mixed-Use Level 2 (MU2).
o Adding design criteria for any high-rise building, as a general regulation.
i. Sustainable Growth
o Added dwelling (townhouse - plex) to help meet a housing mix in new neighbourhoods that achieves a minimum overall density of 40 dwelling units per net residential hectare for new Neighbourhoods.
o Support infill opportunities in established areas, including expanding the provisions for secondary suites, adding dwelling (townhouse - plex) on laned corner lots, and revising the infill schedule.
o Proposed refined clauses that require density to comply with approved Area Structure Plans.
j. Land Use and Development - Downtown
o Expand the existing Downtown District and update the Land Use Bylaw regulations to reflect the policies and guidelines of the DARP and the MDP. The proposed boundary of Downtown has been expanded to just north of the Sturgeon River. This area has been marked as the “downtown transition” area, and was previously the Boardwalk District. The rationale for inclusion was partially based on how Flourish MDP map shows the area identified as downtown. The project team did not propose expanding the boundary further, as additional technical studies are needed before expanding the Downtown District further.
o Continue to prohibit drive-through businesses in the DTN District, to preserve the walkable character of the downtown core.
o Density bonusing was added, following SCOW feedback. MDP Policies 14.3.1 and 13.2.6(d) both ask that downtown be treated as a high-density urban neighbourhood, and so a proposed density band of 70 to 300 dwelling units per net hectare was chosen. Further density can be achieved, but the density bonus section would need to be used. For example, the Niche site has a density of 442 du/ha density, and would need to use bonusing.
k. Land Use and Development - Employment & Mixed-Use Employment Areas
o Created the new Industrial (IND) District, which will allow more choice for rezoning applications for employment lands, and help to work towards achieving a tax split that contains more non-residential assessment.
o Encourage a range of wholly enclosed light-industrial uses, as well as office development, and accessory and small-scale, stand-alone retail uses in the BP1 and BP2 Districts, to meet Flourish MDP Policy 14.8.01.
o Prohibit large-scale warehousing and distribution uses and all outside storage, as well as residential and other sensitive land uses in BP1 and BP2 Districts, to meet Flourish MDP Policy 14.8.02.
o Supported employment growth by restricting residential land uses within the ICS and IND Districts, as per MDP Policy 14.7.02.
l. Land Use and Development - Mixed-Use Nodes
o The MU1 and MU2 districts have a range of uses, such as retail, restaurants, personal and businesses services, medium-density housing, institutions, parks, and public spaces, as per MDP Policy 14.5.01.
m. Land Use and Development - Neighborhoods
o Supported a range of low- and medium-density housing forms in the LDR, SLR, LLR, FBR, and MDR Districts as per MDP Policy 14.6.01.
o Secondary suites have been expanded in scope. Typically, an accessory dwelling unit is more affordable than other products.
o There have also been changes proposed to affordable housing. A new definition is proposed, and parking reductions have been proposed. Affordable housing units are a requirement of the density bonusing sections in the MDR, HDR, MU1, and DTN Districts.
n. Land Use and Development - Trail Corridor Areas
o Supported a range of uses in Trail Corridor Areas, by including retail, office, medium- and high-density housing, institutions, parks, and public spaces to meet MDP Policy 14.4.01.
2. Overall Housekeeping Updates
The new Land Use Bylaw is generally organized into seven parts and four schedules. The content has been rearranged so that definitions are at the back, similar to a textbook. Some former schedules were incorporated into sections.
The Land Use Map (Schedule A) and Flood Line Map are now available online, for easier viewing by the public. Once the new Land Use Map is approved, the information in the online viewer will be updated and include supporting bylaw section links.
We have included a conversion chart at the back of the document for easier understanding of what districts have been transitioned.
3. Key Changes to Land Use Districts
• Several new districts are proposed, including the Conservation (CON), Business Park 1 (BP1), Mixed Use Level 1 (MU1), and Industrial (IND) Districts.
• Several districts were consolidated including:
o The Low-Density Residential (R1) and Low-Density Residential (R2) Districts were consolidated into a single district, now called Low-Density Residential (LDR) District.
o The Medium-Density Residential (R3) and Medium-Density Residential (R3A) Districts were consolidated into a single district, now called the Medium-Density Residential (MDR) District.
o The former Boardwalk (BW), Downtown Residential (DR), Mixed Commercial (MC), and Downtown (DT) Districts were all consolidated into the new Downtown (DTN) District.
• Several districts had minor refinements, including Business Park 2 (BP2), Industrial and Commercial Service (ICS), Public Park (PRK), Transitional (TRN), and Future Urban Development (FUD) Districts.
4. Spot Redistricting Files
Also undertaken with the LUB rewrite were twelve groups of spot redistricting files, including:
• 1 Giroux Road
• 10 Carleton Drive, 55 Chevigny Street, 380 Carleton Drive, & 370 Carleton Drive
• 314 St. Albert Trail, 59 St. Thomas Street, & 57 St. Thomas Street
• 54203 Range Road 261 (Religious Assembly)
• #110, 23B Akins Drive
• 507MR Ray Gibbon Drive
• 513ER Ray Gibbon Drive (a part of Red Willow Park)
• 501ER Ray Gibbon Drive, 503MR Ray Gibbon Drive, 505MR Ray Gibbon Drive, & 509ER Ray Gibbon Drive (Grey Nuns White Spruce Park)
• A part of 45 City Annex West, & 46 City Annex West
• 400 Ray Gibbon Drive, 402 Ray Gibbon Drive, 4 City Annex, 5 City Annex, 10 City Annex & 13 City Annex (Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park)
• 25230 Township Road 542 (Religious Assembly)
• 216ER Ray Gibbon Drive (a part of Grandin Ravine)
For each proposed redistricting, there were public notification letters mailed out to landowners within 100 metres of the parent parcel(s). A short summary of each proposed redistricting, as well as public feedback received is shown in attachment 16.
5. Conversion of Parks to the Conservation (CON) District
As part of the creation of the conservation district, several parcels were proposed to be converted from the Public Park (PRK) District to Conservation (CON) District.
A short summary of each proposed conversion is shown in attachment 14.
There were no mailouts for these parcels, as the intended use will remain unchanged through the redistricting.
6. Creating a Web-Friendly Document
If the Land Use Bylaw is approved, a single PDF copy of the document will be placed on the city website, on the ‘Bylaws’ page as a first step.
Administration has been working with the consultant to create a more web-friendly version of the document. The LUB would then be placed on its own page of the City website. There is a prototype already in place.
The regulations will be loaded into a module that will provide a searchable, user-friendly experience. The new interactive LUB will be able to be updated by Planning & Development staff, as required.
7. Repeal the Development Authority Bylaw
During the review process for the Land Use Bylaw, it was determined that the content contained within the Development Authority Bylaw 18/95 could be worked into sections 1 and 2 of the draft LUB.
Therefore, the Development Authority Bylaw 18/95 is proposed to be repealed. The provisions for establishing the Development Authority have now been included in the beginning of the LUB.
8. Amend the Master Rates Bylaw
During the review process for the Land Use Bylaw, it was determined that the Master Rates Bylaw would need to be updated with the fees charged for new districts, and amended by adding the new district names. These amendments are proposed for later this year.
9. Post-Adoption
If the Land Use Bylaw is approved, several action items follow, including:
• Monitoring of the implementation of the document;
• Staff training; and
• Developing and tracking of Key Performance Metrics (KPI).
Because the LUB is a living document, it is anticipated that edits and housekeeping amendments to the document will occur with some level of regularity, following adoption. Administration anticipates monitoring impacts of the LUB update for approximately one year, at which time any necessary amendments would be prepared for council consideration. Outside of this process, private parties will be able to apply to change the bylaw, as their need and schedule dictate.
There are also anticipated amendments after the infill strategy is completed, to help further meet MDP goals, including anticipated amendments to accommodate development adjacent to future rapid transit station (TOD) areas.
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS OR ENGAGEMENT
Feedback was sought from the public, internal, and external stakeholders, and Indigenous Partners throughout the course of this project. A summary of engagement events can be found as attachment 7.
There are also several feedback reports, that can be found as attachments, including:
• A summary of the feedback for the pop-up event in 2022 can be seen in attachment 8.
• A summary of the feedback for the first online survey event in 2022 can be found in attachment 9.
• A summary of the feedback for the second online survey event in 2023 can be found in attachment 10.
• Public feedback on the draft LUB can be found in attachment 11.
• Interested party feedback (from developers, builders, & government agencies) on the draft LUB can be found in attachment 12.
• As part of this project, several parcels were redistricted as part of the LUB Update. Letters were sent out in late 2023 and early 2024 for these properties. The feedback from the public can be found as attachment 16.
IMPACTS OF RECOMMENDATION(S)
Financial:
The project is within the allotted budget.
Compliance & Legal:
None at this time.
Program or Service:
Some planning and development timelines are mandated by the MGA and will not change with this amendment.
Organizational:
None at this time.
Risks
None at this time.
ALIGNMENT TO PRIORITIES IN COUNCIL’S STRATEGIC PLAN
Initiative aligned with Strategic Plan: Update of the Land Use Bylaw
Complete the update of the Land Use Bylaw (LUB) to modernize and align the LUB with the new Municipal Development Plan.
ALIGNMENT TO SERVICE DELIVERY
The following are the municipal services, as set out in the City of St. Albert Services and Service Levels Inventory, to which the Land Use Bylaw is linked:
D.1.2 Issuance of Land Use and Development Permits and Licenses
Services related to the review and issuance of land use and development permits or licenses.
D.4.1 Current Planning Application Processing
Processing and coordination of the approval of statutory plans and amendments, subdivision and condominium applications.
IMPACTS OF ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED
If Council wishes to make changes to the new LUB, the following processes could be used:
ALTERNATIVE 1 (RECOMMENDED):
Council may choose to give second and third reading to the bylaw, and then give notice of motion for potential changes to the new Land Use Bylaw. This would finalize the document for the 2025 construction season, while allowing staff to work on any preferred changes as a separate amending bylaw.
Financial:
None at this time.
Compliance & Legal:
None at this time.
Program or Service:
Finalizing the new LUB would provide certainty to the development community, and would allow Administration to proceed with post-adoption activities, such as updating the Master Rates Bylaw.
Organizational:
None at this time.
Risk:
None at this time.
ALTERNATIVE 2:
Council may choose to amend some sections of the LUB, prior to third reading. Please be advised, however, of the extremely interconnected nature of the Land Use Bylaw, and the potential for unforeseen consequences of amendments.
Financial:
There is approximately $90,000 left in the project budget, which could be used for a scope change with the consultant.
Compliance & Legal:
Will depend on the proposed scope change.
Program or Service:
Will depend on the proposed scope change.
Organizational:
Will depend on the proposed scope change.
Risks:
Will depend on the proposed scope change. Please note that there will also be significant delay experienced in order to prepare redline edits to the draft document and then present the changes to Council. This delay will impact the development community, who are looking towards planning for the 2025 construction season.
There will also be a delay in presenting changes to the Master Rates Bylaw, which are anticipated later this year.
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Report Date: October 1, 2024
Author(s): Barb Dupuis
Department: Planning & Development
Department Director: Kristina Peter
Managing Director: Adryan Slaght
Chief Administrative Officer: Bill Fletcher