Beaumont prepares for draft North Saskatchewan Regional Plan
The North Saskatchewan region is eagerly awaiting the next steps in the development of their regional plan. When the draft plan is released, municipalities can take advantage of consultation opportunities and prepare to meet compliance.
Planners from Beaumont are prepared to begin reviewing their plans with consideration of the draft North Saskatchewan Regional Plan (NSRP) when it is released.
“We can start reviewing and not wait until the final NSRP is approved. We can look at the draft and assume everything will carry over, and that will save us time,” said Joannes Wong, manager of long-range planning at Beaumont.
“After consultation, some policies may have to be reworked, but assuming the majority of the draft will stay the same.”
Reviewing the draft will give Beaumont a head start in meeting compliance. Located just south of Edmonton in Leduc County, Beaumont has a population of over 18,000.
Wong expected the North Saskatchewan Regional Plan to become a priority for the municipality when it is released but doesn’t expect a significant change in their planning processes.
“The first steps will be to make sure planning documents are aligned with the North Saskatchewan Regional Plan and everything else, including planning processes, will remain the same,” said Wong, who previously contributed to the development of the Land-use Framework, Lower Athabasca and South Saskatchewan regional plans when he worked for the Government of Alberta in Municipal Affairs.
“Because the regional plan is a higher-level document, I don’t think it will create a lot of difficulties for the municipality. Just have to make sure there are policy statements in the plans and processes are in place to address the North Saskatchewan Regional Plan.”
Municipal planning teams can take advantage of regional planning drafts to not only extend the timeline for compliance, but also review the draft regional plans and provide feedback. Wong recommended to regularly review information provided by the Land Use Secretariat on their website and issued in their releases. The draft plan and consultation materials are the first step to providing input.
“If we see something, we can always, anytime, send feedback,” said Wong.
“For the consultation period, there is a definitive timeline. But the Land Use Secretariat always welcomes feedback anytime to improve the plan as well as the planning process.”
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