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Documenting planning history a tool in defending actions

Rarely in Saskatchewan does a municipality not have some acting bylaw for land use regulation and development.
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Rarely in Saskatchewan does a municipality not have some acting bylaw for land use regulation and development. This could be a basic planning statement or official community plan, zoning bylaw or simply municipal bylaws that regulate setbacks or shipping containers. So what should a municipality do with these obsolete bylaws once a new official community plan and zoning bylaw has been written?

One of the benefits of adopting an official community plan and zoning bylaw for a municipality is the implementation of organized and planned land use development and regulation, and the bylaws being located in mostly one document. This allows municipalities the option to control what they want to see within the municipality to some extent, and make sure any uncertain development is carefully considered before rendering a decision. In many of my municipalities Administrators have used both the Zoning Bylaw and municipal bylaws to assist in the control of land use and development. This is because only items authorized by the Planning and Development Act, 2007 can be put into a zoning bylaw, and it may be more appropriate to adopt a municipal bylaw for additional regulations.

Examples where a municipality has adopted additional bylaws over and above a zoning bylaw often revolves around the requirement of additional fees. For example, all my municipalities have regulations for campgrounds, but one municipality also has a municipal bylaw that charges a per site fee to assist in compensating for the increased usage of municipal services for road infrastructure and lagoon impact that the campground users provide that cannot be reclaimed through taxes.  It should be mentioned that if a municipality is going to adopt a fee bylaw, all fees should be defensible. This means the municipality must have justified the numbers with a report completed by a qualified professional showing the numbers are appropriate.

Should any of these documents become obsolete in the future through the adoption of a new bylaw or an updated version, the municipality is to rescind these bylaws. The original bylaw document should be retained in the municipal office. These documents are not to be destroyed, and it shows the history of the municipality, which may come in handy in the future when the municipality has to defend itself.

In every Saskatchewan Municipal Board hearing I’ve attended, the municipality has had to prove consistency and objectivity in how they may have implemented planning and development. In one case, I had to review all previous planning documents back to the 1980s to determine whether the individual would have needed to submit a development permit for a construction project. In this example, the municipality had undergone two major amalgamations and the planning documentation from the previous municipalities had to be reviewed for requirements at the time of construction. The SMB asked for copies of all the documentation for their records to make a decision.

Having this documentation and history is also important at the local level when describing regulations to ratepayers. Being able to explain to ratepayers when the regulations were first adopted, why, and what this means to them helps to remove confusion and sometimes frustration. This has been helpful when there are zoning amendments for regulations or changes to fees for subdivisions.

The final thing to consider for having this documentation and history is that it shows the consistency of council to ratepayers, and also to future council and administration. Municipal elections are every four years, so having this documented history establishes the policies that council should commit to and helps explain why certain regulations or bylaws are in place. In my experience, having all this documentation of the reasoning behind a policy or regulation helps to keep a municipality running smoothly and organized in the future.

— S. Yvonne Prusak, BASc, MA, MCIP, RPP, is a municipal planner with many municipalities and communities in Northwest Saskatchewan, and specializes in land use planning and development. She can be reached at 306-845-6702.