moving past the tipping point – alberta’s new land use system
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Moving Past the Tipping Point – Alberta’s New Land Use System. ELC Webinar December 9, 2009 Cindy Chiasson Executive Director. About the ELC. A registered charitable organization incorporated in 1982 Our mission: To ensure that laws, policies and legal processes protect the environment. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Moving Past the Tipping Point – Alberta’s New Land Use System
ELC WebinarDecember 9, 2009
Cindy ChiassonExecutive Director
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
About the ELC
• A registered charitable organization incorporated in 1982
• Our mission: To ensure that laws, policies and legal processes protect the environment.
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
About the ELC
• Our ends:
– Enactment and effective enforcement of sound environmental laws and policies.
– Effective and informed public participation in environmental regulatory, law-making and decision-making processes.
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Roots of the LUF initiative
Approach to land & resource management
• multiple use
• project-by-project approval, incrementalism
• impacts of individual projects mitigated
• cumulative effects difficult to deal with
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Roots of the LUF initiative
Approach to land & resource management
• anti-planning or laissez-faire approach to planning
• patchwork of policy and legal requirements
• “silo” based decision-making
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
What Albertans want…
• stronger provincial leadership
• better policy integration & coordination (land, water & air)
• greater clarity re: roles & responsibilities of land use decision-makers
• improved conflict resolution processes
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
What Albertans want…
• better land conservation & stewardship
• improved land use information sharing
• increased consultation & opportunities for public, stakeholders & aboriginal peoples to influence land use policies & decisions
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Structure – regional planning
Regional Plan
Regional Advisory Council
Terms of Reference
Land Use Secretariat
Public
Cabinet Approved Plan
Sub-regional Plan
Cabinet has complete control over theplan, ToR, and amendments.
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Regulatory hierarchy
Alberta Land Stewardship Act
Other Acts
Regional Plan
Other Regulations
“Super Regulation”
If there is a conflict?
Amends 27 other acts
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Enforcement
ALSA amends other acts
Day to day decisions of municipalities and government
Decisions must comply with Regional Plan
Non-compliance
Existing appeal processes Complaint to LUS Commissioner
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Regulations & tools
• Top down completely – discretion lies with Cabinet
– Challenges to court are limited
• Regulation making powers are broad
– Include appeal mechanisms for public lands
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Regulations & tools
• Conservation tools enabled
– Conservation directive
– Conservation easements – expanded to agricultural land
– Conservation offsets
– Tradable Development Credit
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
ELC’s assessment of ALSA
• Our vision: dedicated land use planning legislation
– single, binding Act
– administered by Cabinet & a separate administrative secretariat
– all gov’t depts must conform
– set out decision-making process for land use planning
– assign planning responsibilities, create a clear decision-making hierarchy & require local land use decisions to conform to regional plans
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
ELC’s assessment of ALSA
Our assessment: ALSA meets the basic elements
• more needed re: decision-making process for land use planning
• much is still to be determined by Cabinet:
– Regional Advisory Councils
– creation of the planning process
– development and amendment of regional plans
– content of regional plans
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Development of regional plans
• Current (done 2010):
– Lower Athabasca– South Saskatchewan
• Stage 2 (done 2011):
– North Saskatchewan– Upper Athabasca
• Stage 3 (done 2012):
– Red Deer– Upper Peace– Lower Peace
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Development of regional plans
SECRETARIAT&
PROJECT TEAM
CABINET
REGIONALADVISORY
COMMITTEE
3 stages of public input
•Initial info sessions
•Draft vision for plan
•Draft plan
Aboriginal consultation separate
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Elements of regional plans
• Regional profile
• Policy context
• Regional vision statement
• Regional outcomes
• Objectives & goals
• Strategies, actions, approaches
• Monitoring & reporting
• 50 year min. planning horizon
• 5-10 year effectiveness
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Lower Athabasca plan scope
• Primary focus: economic development (oil sands; timber)
• Land conservation – boreal forest
• Water & air (NOx & SO2) thresholds
• Aboriginal traditional use
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
South Saskatchewan plan scope
• Population growth
• Water supply & demand
• Landscape conservation (Eastern slopes)
• Economic growth (agriculture; energy; forestry; recreation & tourism)
• Thresholds: surface water quantity & quality; air quality
• Aboriginal traditional use
• Major multi-use corridors
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
What else to watch for…
• Interim/transitional issues
• Implementation– How will province-wide agencies manage?
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Support the ELC
• Registered charity – donations receive a tax receipt
• 100% of donations fund ELC public programs
https://www.elc.ab.ca/pages/SupportELC/default.aspx
CRA Registration Number - 11890 0679 RR0001
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Alberta’s New Land Use System
Questions?
Phone: 780-424-5099 or 1-800-661-4238
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
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