Calgary Regional Growth Plan To Use Water To Keep Towns in Line

Calgary regional growth plan to use water to keep towns in line
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By Joel Kom, Calgary HeraldMarch 16, 2009Be the rst to post a comment
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Development is restricted, whether we like it or not, by one nite resource: water.

Photograph by: Calgary Herald, Archive
A landmark regional plan that will guide the development of 18 municipalities for the next six decades will be counting on a nite resource to make sure those municipalities don't break the rules. It may not be written directly into the Calgary Regional Partnership's plan, but water--more precisely, access to water--will be one of the key enforcement tools to ensure the plan's backers obey the calls for environmental protection and higher density development. "The set of teeth is water," partnership chairwoman and Airdrie Mayor Linda Bruce told a recent City of Calgary committee meeting. "If you're non-compliant, you won't get the service that you need.That pipe won't show up." A draft version of the plan was released this month, setting the stage for a formal re-turn to regional planning in the Calgary area for the rst time since the province abandoned the practice 15 years ago. The plan includes signatories as far north as Crosseld, as far east as Wheatland County, as far south as Nanton and as far west as the Tsuu T'ina First Nation. Perhaps the blueprint's most crucial policy is the call for 25 per cent of the estimated 1.6 million people who will arrive in the region in the next six decades to be put in already developed areas, rather than clearing new land. That means both urban and rural partnership members will be asked to build higher density developments around mixed-use centres, public transit and major road corridors while avoiding any impacts to ecologically sensitive areas. But another pivotal piece involves water and waste water infrastructure. Partnership members will back the provision of that infrastructure, the plan reads, to those areas that follow the development guidelines. Implicit in that statement is what Bruce concisely told the city committee: breaking from the guidelines could mean you don't get that infrastructure. Water has become a crucial issue in southern Alberta, especially since the province declared three years ago there would be no new water licences issued for the Bow, Oldman and South Saskatchewan rivers. That forced municipalities who didn't already have water licences to seek deals with those who did.
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Calgary, which holds a licence for enough water for three million people, became a seller of water and related infrastructure, but it also drew the ire of some surrounding municipalities that thought Alberta's biggest city was hoarding one of the world's most precious resources. Bruce hopes water's power of division could also be used for cooperation. "(Access to water) has been the driver of conict, and hopefully that will be the driver of settling these conicts," she said. Mayor Dave Bronconnier said Calgary is willing to share its water with the larger region, provided those in the region come together on planning decisions. Ad hoc planning has only led to battles between farmers, industries and municipalities, he said. "We are here to play a regional role, but in order to play that role there are other expectations that come with it." Strathmore Mayor George Lattery, whose town will have a new regional water line coming from Calgary this summer, said he wasn't worried about Calgary throwing its weight around because everybody has agreed to abide by the plan's principles. But if it comes down to it, he added, water will indeed be a way of keeping the municipalities in line. "I don't like to use it as a hammer against anybody, but right now, for any municipality, it is the hammer, because without water, you can't grow," he said. Municipal Affairs Minister Ray Danyluk, whose government will eventually have to sign off on the plan, said the province will legislate some kind of formal mechanism to ensure anyone who signs on to the plan stays on its path. Whether they do so because of the legislated tool or because of water access, he said, the important thing is that they follow the guidelines. "If you're in, you're in," he said. "You can't just wake up one day and say, 'You know, I think I'm out.'" Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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Development is restricted, whether we like it or not, by one nite resource: water.

Photograph by: Calgary Herald, Archive
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Calgary Regional Growth Plan To Use Water To Keep Towns in Line

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