Strong mayor powers fast track boundary changes
The full Stayner Boundary Expansion Study recently approved by Clearview council will take far too long, and cost too many taxpayer dollars, according to Mayor Doug Measures.
Measures has invoked strong mayor powers bestowed by the provincial government to approve funding for a study with smaller scope to be completed within the next 90 days. The Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act gives the mayor authority to instruct council to consider a matter which could potentially advance a prescribed provincial priority – in this case, the province’s plan to build 1.5 million new residential units by December 2031 and to construct and maintain infrastructure to support housing, transit, roads, utilities and servicing.
At its April 27 meeting, council passed a motion directing staff to proceed with the Stayner Secondary Plan, in development with consultants, that would examine a study area extending roughly one kilometre around the existing built boundary, for potential long-term growth and development through to the year 2071. That study was expected to take up to 28 months and cost nearly $675,000.
Measures says that plan would examine the entire settlement area in one parcel, which doesn’t make sense at this time.
“Why would we spend a whole lot of money on the west end when we know there is currently no interest and no developable lands,” he said.
“We already have specific interest from three developers in lands adjacent to the northeast corner of the existing settlement. These are areas that will be served by the Klondike Park water project when it comes on stream. There are agreements in place with the developers to contribute financially to the infrastructure project, subject to the Stayner Settlement Area Boundary Expansion. In short, they will delay payment until those lands are included in the settlement boundary.”
Measures says water will start flowing from the new Klondike Park well by 2027, so the township needs to get these lands recognized as part of the Stayner settlement area.
“It could be 25 or 30 years before we see any substantial changes in the area but the reality is, we have to start sometime,” he said. “We could study all the lands included in the larger Phase 2 study, but we know that the law of gravity means water will not be available in the area west of County Road 42 without expensive pumping stations. Therefore, the decision was made to proceed with the smaller study now and get the developers to pay their share, and delay the larger study until some point in the future.”
The mayor has approved a budget of $150,000 to complete technical studies including a servicing feasibility study, agricultural impact assessment and First Nations and Indigenous consultation strategy to commence immediately. Any overruns will be covered by reserve funds designated for the Official Plan and zoning review.
Land outside the Stayner settlement area boundary identified as having long-term development potential known as the ‘Growth Reserve Overlay (GRO)’ – the pink dotted area – are being fast tracked for development in order to cash in on developer agreements.
