Alberta Parks & Recreation

Peter Swain, Alberta Parks South Region Director, presented as a delegation to council and provided updates on access into the Castle Provincial Park and Wildland Park.
Non-motorized

A Trails Strategy and Capital Development Plan is expected to be released at the end of October 2018.

Currently, Swain says the government is meeting with recreational user groups and stakeholders to understand non-motorized trail and infrastructure needs.

The "number one priority” for Alberta Parks, says Swain, is creating an "Epic” mountain biking trail that starts and ends in or near Crowsnest Pass. The Epic trail, as classified by the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) has certain criteria for length, difficulty, and other qualities that would label it Epic and would be a major draw to the community. Alberta Parks is working with the United Riders of Crowsnest (UROC) to develop the project.

There are very few recognized Epic trails in North America, so having this in Crowsnest Pass would me a major tourism draw to the area, says Swain, adding that the long-term goal would be to have several Epics in or near the community.

The trails strategy plan will include a finalized route for the Epic.

Motorized

On the topic of motorized use, while summer OHV recreation is being phased out, winter motorized sport will continue. Swain says that snowmobiling stakeholders will be approached in October for a plan of what winter snowmobiling would look like. No changes would happen for this year.

Castle access

Alberta Parks is hoping to have tourism-oriented directional signs pointing to the Adanac Road and Sartoris Road as accessways into the Castle Provincial Park and Wildlands Park. The government is also in ongoing discussions to improve those roads and designate them as a scenic drive.

Grouped Country Residential Recreational Vehicle Standards

Councillor Dean Ward brought forth suggestions for changes to the proposed Bylaw 1011, 2018 Grouped Country Residential Recreational Vehicle Standards that prohibits RV storage on GCR parcels where no principal use has been established.

Under the current Land Use Bylaw (Bylaw 868, 2013), one RV is permitted to be stored for a maximum of 30 days per calendar year where no principle use has been established. The proposed bylaw, of which Council has passed first reading, would remove this allowance.
However, following a strong pushback from GCR landowners, particularly along Tecumseh Road, Council had tabled second reading and is re-examining the proposed bylaw.

Councillor Ward suggested that for parcels where no principal use has been established, storage of two recreational vehicles should be allowed for two years from the date of purchase. If the parcel was purchased prior to the date of this bylaw being proclaimed, RV storage should be permitted for three years.

Where a principal use has been approved, Councillor Ward’s suggestion was that two recreational vehicles may be stored on the parcel for the period that construction is active, changed from only one permitted RV.
However, he maintained that in no case shall a recreational vehicle be used for permanent accommodations.

Most of council spoke favourably to the suggested amendments.

Councillor Lisa Sygutek, however, said she would not be voting for these amendments or the current proposed bylaw. Instead, she made it clear that parcels purchased before 2013 should be allowed legal nonconformity with regards to storing RVs and using them as sleeping accommodations.

However, according to Administration, a bylaw prohibiting the use of RVs for camping goes back to 1974.

“In all previous versions of the Land Use Bylaw dating back to 1974, ‘camping’ was never identified as either a permitted or discretionary use in Grouped Country Residential (GCR) districts. As such, ‘camping’ would be considered a prohibited use by default. In the most recent version of the bylaw – Land Use Bylaw 868, 2013 – camping has been explicitly listed as a prohibited use in the GCR districts,” says Chief Administrative Officer Patrick Thomas.

Additionally, Administration reported that approximately 40 percent of GCR parcels have no dwelling on them at this time.

At various points throughout the past several weeks, the idea of people having the right to do what they want with their land has been brought up when discussing the proposed bylaw.

Several councillors, however, have stated that this thought cannot guide council’s decision on the proposed bylaw, as municipalities have bylaws that evolve for a reason and they should apply to the population absolutely.

"You used to be able to have chickens in your backyard. You can’t have chickens in your backyard no more. You used to be able to let your grass go this long, but you can’t do that anymore. We set policies and bylaw for the safety of the community or how we develop with our municipal development plan. That's really the reason we have bylaws and they should be followed the same by everybody,” said Councillor Doreen Glavin.

Councillor Ward will bring amendments to the meeting and council will discuss the bylaw further.

Coleman Sports Complex

Repairs on the ammonia ice plant are underway however, the opening date is anticipated to be pushed back one week to October 8.

Bellevue Union Cemetery

A rock drain has been installed at the Bellevue Union Cemetery which will mitigate seasonal flooding. Large water events at the cemetery should now dissipate quickly, if not remain flood-free.

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