FAQs

The Hamlet Resiliency Strategy is a special study looking into the needs of some of the County’s hamlets. As these smaller communities have unique needs and amenities, this study will engage with residents and other groups to identify their long-term requirements. This study will also look at what other types of amenities these hamlets could benefit from such as trails, cultural spaces or economic development programs. Some of the recommendations from the strategy will inform policies in the Municipal Development Plan and others will be explored through different County initiatives.

The Municipal Development Plan (MDP) is the primary policy document that provides long-term guidelines and policy direction for the future growth and development within the County of Grande Prairie. The MDP guides the policy direction for other planning documents, such as Area Structure Plans, and the Land Use Bylaw.  

A Land Use Bylaw regulates the use and development of land and buildings within a municipality. Every municipality is required to have a Land Use Bylaw in place. Each municipality's Land Use Bylaw is unique and any changes to the Land Use Bylaw must be approved by Council following a Public Hearing process where members of the public are able to speak.

An area structure plan (ASP) provides direction for long-term land use and details on the growth and development within a defined area in the County. ASPs include information on design principles, function and land use, infrastructure, and density as well as land use statistics and concept maps.

It is important to regularly review the current land use rules and regulations to make sure that they still align with our County’s development goals.

The Alberta Town and Rural Planning Act of 1953 required municipalities of a certain size, including the County, to adopt zoning bylaws. The County’s first zoning bylaw in 1955 was replaced with an updated bylaw in 1965, followed by further replacements in 1970, 1981, 1986, and in 2003 – our current bylaw. In the years between updates, each version of the bylaw saw numerous amendments to accommodate rezoning or to improve the document.

It has been 20 years since the current bylaw was created. It was amended in 2020 to include standards for wild boars. A full review of the Land Use Bylaw will help us to identify and keep the rules and regulations that are working well and to find areas, if any, that can be improved.