COUNCIL MEETING ADDENDUM

Transcription

1 COUNCIL MEETING ADDENDUM January 16, :00 pm COUNCIL CHAMBERS 400 MAIN STREET SE Pages 13. AGENDA REPORTS 13.2 Alberta Municipal Government Act Review 2017 (Leona Esau, Intergovernmental Liaison) MGA Review Continuing the Conversation - COA Input Calgary Metropolitan Region Growth Management Board Update (Leona Esau, Intergovernmental Liaison) GMB Regulation Discussion Guide - COA Input 5

2 MGA Review 2017 Continuing the Conversation City of Airdrie Input Summary of Feedback City of Airdrie Priority Amendments 2017 Detailed responses to be outlined in a letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs: Municipal Collaboration with School Boards The City will be proposing a different process for the assembly of land for high school sites. Off-site Levies The City will be advocating for a funding formula that contains a minimum percentage commitment from the Province for provincial transportation infrastructure upgrades due to growth. Clarity Regarding Tax Exemptions The City will be advocating for the re-instatement of the Grants in-lieu of Taxes program or the removal of exempted properties to allow municipalities to recover property taxes from provincially owned and leased properties. City of Airdrie Feedback for 2017 MGA Review Continuing the Conversation Online Survey How are Municipalities Empowered to Govern? Collaboration with Indigenous Communities In principle the City of Airdrie agrees with clarifying the role of municipalities within the MGA in engaging, informing and collaborating with neighbouring indigenous communities. This same clarification will be required for the proposed Growth Management Boards in the Calgary and Edmonton regions. Other than Airdrie s involvement in the Calgary Metropolitan Board, many of the proposed provisions do not have direct implications for the City. Airdrie will be asking the Province to provide information and culture awareness training materials for the proposed addition of Indigenous Awareness Training to the list of topics councillors will be offered as part of their orientation training. Enforcement of Ministerial Orders In general the City of Airdrie supports allowing the Minister to enforce Ministerial orders intended to address significant local governance concerns without initiating the municipal inspection process. The provisions will allow the Minister the same authority currently available under the inspection process for situations where a municipality has not complied with direction provided by an official administrator or by the Minister in respect of an inter-municipal disagreement. o Suspend the authority of a council to make resolutions or bylaws in respect of the matter addressed in the Order o Exercise resolution or bylaw-making authority if local authority is suspended o Remove a suspension of resolution or bylaw-making authority o Withhold money pending compliance with the Order. The City of Airdrie will be asking the Province to add a statement clarifying that this provision only applies in situations where the collective actions of council have resulted in a situation of noncompliance. The actions of one councillor can be addressed at the local level. Parental Leave for Municipal Councillors 1

3 Airdrie supports this provision which will enable councils to create a parental leave policy bylaw. Presently the provision states that the content of the bylaw will be determined by each municipality in accordance with their needs. The City will be asking the Province to provide guidelines around: o The maximum leave period to be considered. Presently the MGA provides provisions for dealing with absences greater than 8 weeks. One year represents a quarter of a councillor s elected term. o The maximum number of councillors that can be on parental leave at any given time. Many high growth, young demographic communities may be faced with a situation where quorum is no longer attainable. o Part-time vs. full-time councillors o Ward system vs. general representation will require different provisions to ensure constituents continue to be effectively represented. Environmental Stewardship The City of Airdrie supports enabling municipalities to play a greater role in preserving the environment, but it should not become a core purpose of a municipality. o To become an explicit municipal purpose, municipalities will require the regulatory and financial tools to be environmental stewards. These are not provided under the current framework in the MGA. o The key provision that needs to be addressed is how municipalities weigh growth and development against being a good environmental steward. These two will not always be in alignment. In general the MGA will need to contain a strong definition of Environmental Stewardship to make this provision effective. Regardless if it is an explicit municipal purpose or just enables a municipality to play a greater role in preserving the environment. Notification of Amalgamations and Annexations The City of Airdrie supports informing, not consulting, all local authorities about an amalgamation. o The decision to amalgamate should be left to municipalities and should not require the agreement of local authorities. The City agrees with the proposed provision that requires municipalities initiating an annexation to notify the Minister and local authorities. Municipal Collaboration with School Boards The City of Airdrie supports and has advocated for the Benefitting Area Contribution provision. o The City and local school boards have played a significant role in advancing the issue of assembly of land for high school sites. The proposed changes will allow for the assembly of land for larger high school sites, typically 20+ acres, over a benefitting area contribution structure within the current Municipal Reserve provisions. The City supports this provision in principal but it needs to be taken further to be truly effective for fast growing municipalities. o Limiting land and cash-in-lieu of collection to the maximum 10% Municipal Reserve does not allow many of Alberta s faster growing communities surrounding Edmonton and Calgary to 2

4 effectively assemble and service the land required for high school sites without passing on some of the cost burden to local residents. o The City, along with support from local school boards, will be asking for this provision to be expanded for municipalities that experience high residential growth. Advocating for a 12% Municipal Reserve provision or for the collection of two acres cash-in-lieu per quarter section developed. The City of Airdrie supports the Mandatory Joint Use Agreements provision. The City along with local school boards began work on this agreement in Off-site Levies The City of Airdrie supports the proposed expansion of off-site levy collection to include provincial transportation projects. o The City will be advocating for the Province to include a defined cost contribution formula (minimum provincial contribution) and a provision allowing municipalities to determine the benefitting area. o The City will also be seeking a provision that restricts the collection of levies to funding the municipal contribution of provincial infrastructure projects only. The City supports the proposed inter-municipal levy collection provisions. The City supports exempting school boards from paying off-site levies on non-reserve lands that are developed for school board purposes. o School board purposes needs to be clearly defined. Conservation Reserve In general the City of Airdrie is supportive of the proposed Conservation Reserve (CR) provisions. o Provide compensation guidelines for the transfer of CR lands in the annexation process. o Provide guidance on including designation in statutory plans (none included in Bill 21). o Allow for the disposal of CR lands when a substantive change has occurred. Compliance with Linked Tax Ratio Not applicable to the City of Airdrie. City is within the Linked Tax Ratio provisions. Taxation of Intensive Agricultural Operations The City of Airdrie is supportive of the introduction of a levy on intensive agricultural operations. o Reflects the unique requirements and impact on local infrastructure of intensive agricultural operations. Access to Assessment Information The City of Airdrie supports the ability of local assessors to access information on how provincially assessed Designated Industrial Properties were evaluated within their municipal jurisdiction. Assessment Notices The City of Airdrie supports the introduction of a provision that firms up the complaint period. The deadline for filing a complaint about an assessment will be 60 days from the notice of assessment date. Clarity Regarding Tax Exemptions 3

5 The City of Airdrie supports the provision to specifically state that properties owned, leased and held by the Provincial Agencies are taxable for the purposes of property taxation. o Regardless of use or ownership the City provides services water, sewer, fire and policing to all properties within its jurisdiction. Municipalities should be compensated for the provisions of these basic services. o It is proposed that AHS, housing management bodies, schools, colleges and universities remain exempt from this provision. The City supports expanding this provision to include additional exempted properties, or that the Grants-in-lieu of Taxes program be re-established for these properties, to ensure that municipalities are fairly compensated for the provision of basic services. As it stands the cost of providing services to these properties is subsidized by the remainder of the tax base. Correction to Assessment Notices Under Complaint The City of Airdrie supports the proposed process for allowing assessors to revise an assessment under complaint. Technical Amendments The City is supportive of these proposed amendments. The proposed changes provide clarity surrounding some of the new items introduced in Bills 20 and 21, and in some cases decrease unnecessary administrative requirements and the associated costs to municipalities. 4

6 Growth Management Boards Regulation Discussion Guide City of Airdrie Input Summary of Feedback General Comments City of Airdrie advocated during consultations in early 2016 for many of the provisions included in the Discussion Guide. No mention of protocol to work with or requirement to inform the four indigenous communities within and surrounding the proposed Calgary Metropolitan Board area. Discussion Questions Mandate: 1. Are these roles and responsibilities clear or do they require further definition? The City of Airdrie believes that the roles and responsibilities are clear and that they allow some flexibility in how the Calgary Metropolitan Region addresses issues unique to this region. 2. Are there other roles and responsibilities that should be assigned to the Growth Management Board in the interest of the region? At this time the City of Airdrie does not believe that there are additional roles or responsibilities required. The City believes that the Calgary Metropolitan Board should have the flexibility to add additional responsibilities as needs are identified and business cases developed to clearly demonstrate the efficiencies gained by adopting a regional solution or approach to issues. 3. Given the objectives of a growth plan, what should the plan contain? The City of Airdrie supports an automatic review and update of the growth plan every 5 years. The list contained in the Discussion Guide is comprehensive and allows the Board to create a plan that addresses the growth pressures municipalities in the region are currently experiencing. The identification of priority growth areas and targeted density development needs to be carefully considered by all members of the new growth board. This provision should be principle-based with flexibility to allow for differing density targets in urban vs. rural areas. o Flexibility will allow for higher/lower density where it makes most sense, while ensuring that municipalities remain sustainable. Corridors for recreation needs to be clearly defined. 4. What timelines are reasonable for the preparation of the growth plan? The City believes that two years is sufficient time to develop a growth plan. o Much of the preliminary work required to take the principle-based Calgary Metropolitan Plan (CMP) to a growth plan for the region has been completed. 5

7 The City supports the interim adoption of the CMP and the principles contained within it to guide new development in the region until such a time, likely late 2019, that the new growth plan comes into force. 5. What should the Metropolitan Servicing Plan contain? The City believes that the list of mandatory services outlined in the Discussion Guide is good to begin the conversation on regional services. The City believes that the new growth board should have flexibility in determining how regional services are delivered. Determination should be based on sustainable funding of key services and the efficient use of taxpayer dollars. Services should only be delivered at the regional level when there is a clear business case outlining the efficiencies. o The Province needs to be very clear on their funding commitment for core services. In the future, it may be worthwhile for the growth board to consider police services at the regional level. Efficiencies may be gained that will help municipalities address the escalating costs of providing protective services. 6. Is a five year horizon appropriate to facilitate decisions regarding servicing? The City of Airdrie believes that the servicing plan needs to be brought in line with how municipalities plan at the local level. Many have operating budgets that span 3-5 years and capital plans that reflect 10+ years. o Planning level we need to plan for infrastructure needs for the longer term years. o Implementation level terms of servicing agreements need to be reviewed/updated every 5 years. Membership: 7. Does the proposed composition present gaps that may impact the achievement of the Board s mandate? The City of Airdrie supports the proposed composition of the board. The City advocated for this commuter-shed/infrastructure-shed model comprised of the larger urbans and the adjacent rurals. The Province is proposing using the Inter-municipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) as the basis to ensure that urbans under 5,000 population are in alignment with the growth plan. o Rural municipalities will be responsible for creating ICFs with the smaller urbans. o Clarification is required on what this means for density targets and access to regional services. Will the larger urbans have an ability to create ICFs with some of the smaller urbans that utilize or could utilize their services directly until such a time when they pass the 5,000 population threshold? Governance: 8. Are there other mechanisms or strategies needed or useful for promoting compliance? 6

8 The creation of a growth board for the Calgary region moves municipalities from a position where they have local freedom to address needs, challenges and opportunities for their communities to one where growth and servicing are now governed from a regional level. The development of an effective Regional Evaluation Framework that balances regional needs/requirements with local flexibility/autonomy will be very important. 9. How can the Board ensure disputes are resolved in a fair, timely and definitive fashion? The City of Airdrie believes that timelines and criteria for what can be disputed need to be developed around the proposed dispute resolution process. Is there, or should there be, a role for the Municipal Government Board to play in the dispute resolution process? Other Matters: 10. What support is necessary from the province to help ensure the successful establishment of the Board? The City of Airdrie believes that Provincial funding is required to allow the region to hire the expertise required to transition successfully into the new structure. Certainty, clarity and a commitment from the Government of Alberta to: o continue to fund infrastructure projects related to key regional services, and o refrain from downloading more responsibilities to municipalities as we adopt to this new way of managing growth and delivering services. 11. What level of engagement should be required of a Growth Management Board? How should non-member municipalities, other stakeholders and the public be engaged? Non-member municipalities should be informed/updated on the progress being made by the growth management board through their larger rural municipalities. A process needs to be established to inform other stakeholders indigenous communities, local authorities, developers and the public - on the progress being made by the board. 12. Should these or other basic expectations for information sharing be explicitly recognized in the regulation? What should be the consequences of the failure to fulfill these expectations? Allowances and/or support needs to be provided for municipalities that are currently not resourced to meet some of the information sharing provisions outlined in the Discussion Guide. 7