Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2024 engagement on the County’s Municipal Development Plan (MDP) update.

The What We Heard Report summarizing the feedback from this phase is now available under the Project Documents tab on the right. 👉

Key Themes from Community Input:

• Rural Industrial Development: Residents emphasized keeping industrial areas away from homes and natural features, focusing development near highways, rail, and existing industrial nodes. Proposals in Hythe, Huallen, and Bezanson were generally supported, while the Demmit option received limited support and will not move forward.

• Country Residential Development: Support was strongest for areas near hamlets like Elmworth, Teepee Creek, La Glace, Valhalla Centre, Bezanson, and Albright, where amenities and infrastructure exist. Preserving agricultural land remained a high priority.

• Natural Areas: There was strong support for clearer and more consistent policies to protect wetlands, riverbanks, and wildlife habitat—even if it makes the development process more restrictive.

• Agricultural Areas: Participants prioritized protecting high-quality farmland and asked for more transparent criteria around what constitutes “better” agricultural land.

This input is being used to refine the draft Future Land Use Concept and policy directions for the next stage of the MDP update.

The County is initiating an update to the Land Use Bylaw. This bylaw outlines the processes and standards for when someone is developing a site, such as building a house or retail store. The purpose of the update is to improve processes and standards.

The first phase of the project focuses on administrative and procedural items in the bylaw. The amendments in this phase will not change development standards, they are intended to address administrative items, such as ensuring that the timelines for processes align with provincial (Municipal Government Act) requirements and enabling the County to take online applications.

There are currently three bylaw amendments moving forward as part of this phase:

• New map format (Bylaw 2680-24-035)
• Update to the Penalties section to specify offences and fine amounts (Bylaw 2680-24-036)
• Removing forms from the bylaw to allow for online applications (Bylaw 2680-24-037)

Public Hearings for these amendments will be held on November 25, 2024 in Council Chambers. Visit the Public Hearings page for more details: Scheduled Public Hearings - County of Grande Prairie No.1

Future phases of the update will include topics such as integrating Hythe into the County’s bylaw, reviewing general standards and uses, and updating the structure of the document to improve useability.

The County and City of Grande Prairie held a Joint Public Hearing on October 15th to consider the updated Intermunicipal Development Plan.

After an introduction from County and City staff, Dnyanesh Deshpande of Green Space Alliance presented the proposed updated Intermunicipal Development Plan.

Members of the public were invited to speak either in support of or opposition to the proposed plan. No one requested to speak at the meeting.

Now that the Public Hearing has concluded, the next step is for each respective Council to consider adopting the IDP as a bylaw at one of their Regular Council Meetings.

Public Hearing

The City of Grande Prairie and County of Grande Prairie invite community members to a joint public hearing on October 15, 2024, regarding the draft Intermunicipal Development Plan (IDP).

The public hearing takes place:

• Tuesday, October 15 | 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Teresa Sargent Hall, Montrose Cultural Centre, 9839 103 Ave., Grande Prairie

At the Public Hearing, the project team will present the draft updated plan, members of Council will have the opportunity to ask questions and members of the Public will have the opportunity to speak in support of or opposition to the plan.

Community members invited to review draft Intermunicipal Development Plan at public open house on October 7

The City of Grande Prairie and County of Grande Prairie invite community members to a public open house on October 7, 2024, to review the final version of the draft Intermunicipal Development Plan (IDP).

The IDP is a long-term, strategic plan required by the Municipal Government Act that outlines a vision for development and infrastructure near municipal boundaries.

To find more information about the project and draft documents, visit the project page: County of Grande Prairie and City of Grande Prairie Intermunicipal Development Plan | Engage the County of Grande Prairie (engagecountygp.ca)

In July, the City and County of Grande Prairie engaged with community members on the draft IDP updates and gathered their input at two public open houses. The feedback received has informed revisions to the draft IDP, which will be presented to both City and County Council during a public hearing in October, with the date to be announced soon.

“We appreciate everyone who provided feedback on the draft Intermunicipal Development Plan and encourage all community members to attend the public open house to review the changes,” says City of Grande Prairie Mayor, Jackie Clayton. “This is an excellent chance to learn about the updates and their influence on the future of our region.”

“The ongoing feedback from our residents plays an important role in ensuring we have an updated Intermunicipal Development Plan that will continue to coordinate our land use planning, economic development, and transportation needs in the areas that join our neighbouring municipalities,” says County of Grande Prairie Reeve, Bob Marshall. “We encourage everyone attend the open house on October 7.”

Public Open House

Community members are invited to a public open house to review the final version of the draft IDP. The session is drop-in format and open to everyone to attend.

The open house take place:

• October 7, 2024
• 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.
• Teresa Sargent Hall, Montrose Cultural Centre, 9839 103 Ave, Grande Prairie

Project Background

The initial IDP between the City & County was adopted in 2010 and has since undergone several amendments. The City and County initiated the process of updating their existing IDP in September 2019. Since then, the project teams from both municipalities have worked together to develop a new draft IDP.

The County of Grande Prairie’s draft Hamlet Resiliency Strategy is available for review here.

The County has prepared a Hamlet Resiliency Strategy for its nine rural hamlets:

The purpose of the strategy is to ensure rural hamlets are resilient and remain sustainable over the long-term. Resiliency is the ability for hamlets to adapt to changing external circumstances while maintaining their core functions and providing services to the surrounding area.

The strategy details the process undertaken to evaluate the current state of the nine hamlets and identifies recommendations and actions to support their future sustainability.

The strategy provides recommendations and actions that the County can implement to encourage additional amenities and economic development and create communities that are more attractive to live in.

The full draft strategy can be accessed here.

Please, send your questions or feedback to planyourcounty@countygp.ab.ca, or call 780-513-3950 to speak to a member of the Planning team.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this phase of consultation for the Municipal Development Plan Update. Your input will help to guide County staff as they develop the draft updates to the document.

In this phase of consultation, participants were asked to provide input on the criteria used for evaluating certain types of development proposals and on the Future Land Use Concept. This feedback will be summarized in a 'What We Heard Report', that will be available on this webpage later this summer.

The next step in the project is for County staff to develop a draft update to the Municipal Development Plan based on a technical review and feedback from participants. In Phase 3 of consultation, County staff will ask for feedback on the draft update before it is refined for Council to consider adopting.

Today is the last day to drop off physical copies of the Municipal Development Phase 2 Workbook at dropbox locations around the County. Next week, County staff will pick up the dropboxes and begin compiling the responses.

The online version of the workbook will continue to available until June 28^th. You can access the online version of the workbook here:

Municipal Development Plan Update - Phase 2 Workbook

The workbook was designed to allow people who were unable to attend one of the in-person workshops to get background information on the project and to provide feedback on key topics.

This phase of consultation focused on the criteria for different types of development and potential revisions to the Future Land Use Concept. The feedback from this phase will be summarized in a ‘What We Heard’ report and posted on the project page later this summer.

In the next phase of consultation, we will be asking for input on the draft update to the Municipal Development Plan.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this spring's Municipal Development Plan Update workshops.

For those of you who were not able to attend, you can still participate by completing the workbook version. We have created a survey version of the workbook here: MDP Update Phase 2 Workbook, to make it easier to complete.

The feedback we gather in this phase will help shape the policies around the criteria we use for considering different types of development applications, as well as our review of the Future Land Use Concept Map.

Once we are done gathering feedback for this phase, we will compile the results in a 'What We Heard Report' that will be available on this page.

In the next phase of consultation, we will be presenting a draft version of the Municipal Development Plan update for public input. That phase of consultation is tentatively planned for this fall.

Tonight's Municipal Development Plan Review workshop is being held at Clarkson Hall in Evergreen Park (55051 TWP RD) from 6PM to 8PM. Evergreen Park management has advised us that due to the Petroleum Show at the TARA Energy Services Centre, the main road in front of the event center may be closed.

You will be able to access Clarkson Hall from RGE RD 60, which leads towards the baseball diamonds. See the map below for the route to Clarkson hall: