To continue growing in a way that meets the needs of our community in the long term, the County of Grande Prairie is reviewing and updating the plans, bylaws, strategies, and guidelines that shape local development.

This project began in 2023 with the initiation of a Hamlet Resiliency Strategy and a review of the current Municipal Development Plan. What we hear and learn from this process will set the stage for the Land Use Bylaw and Area Structure Plan reviews that will follow. Ultimately, this work will improve the development process, create appropriate development opportunities, and ensure the County is growing in a way that aligns with the vision that residents have for our County.

To be successful, we are asking those who live and work here to help Plan Your County. Your feedback is vital to developing plans and policies that work for the specific needs and culture of our County.

Main Components of the Plan Your County Project

Municipal Development Plan Update (2023-25)

STATUS: Preparing Draft Updates

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.

The project team has completed two phases of consultation. The first asked participants to provide feedback on the vision and goals that provide direction to the plan. The second phase of consultation asked participant about criteria for Country Residential and Rural Industrial development, as well as potential changes to the Future Land Use Concept.

The project team is currently working on draft updates for the MDP and planning another phase of consultation. The next phase of consultation will ask participants to provide input on the draft update.

Land Use Bylaw Review (2024-26)

STATUS: Phase 1 - Housekeeping / Administrative Updates

The County is reviewing and updating the Land Use Bylaw to improve development standards and processes. This bylaw outlines the standards when someone is developing a site, such as building a house. This bylaw will be reviewed to improve the application process and ensure that it continues to align with the community’s needs.

Phase 1: Housekeeping / Administrative Updates

The first phase of the project will focus 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.

The changes in this phase are being prioritized because they impact day-to-day operations and/or our compliance with provincial requirements.

Public consultation in this phase will consist of notifications, making the draft amendments available for comment and Public Hearings. The changes in this phase will be driven by Council direction and provincial legislation. Other phases will have more in-depth public consultation.

Current Proposed Amendments:

Map Format

Administration has prepared an update to the Land Use Bylaw maps to have a physical set of maps that reflect all the rezonings to-date. As part of this update, administration revised the format of the maps to have a larger page size and an updated color scheme. These changes reduce the total number of maps and makes them easier to read.

As part of this process, administration also created a webpage to make it easier to access and navigate these maps.

You can view the draft Land Use Bylaw map webpage here: Zoning Maps Copy - County of Grande Prairie No.1

View draft amendment bylaw here: 2680-24-035

Penalties

Council directed administration to prepare a Land Use Bylaw amendment to specify fines within the Penalties section of the Land Use Bylaw.

Currently, the Penalty section indicates that a person guilty of an offence under the bylaw is liable to penalties identified in the Municipal Government Act (MGA). As per the MGA, this could be a fine of up to $10,000.

The bylaw does not currently provide direction for what the fine amounts should be for various offences. This creates a challenge for administering fines when a landowner is refusing to address an offence after receiving a notice.

The proposed amendment specifies several types of offences and the fines for those offences ranging from $250 to $4,000.

View draft amendment bylaw here: 2680-24-036

Forms

Administration has prepared an amendment to remove forms and notices from the bylaw. Currently, forms and notices related to Development Permits, subdivision and rezonings are part of the bylaw and require a bylaw amendment to make any changes other forms.

The proposed amendment removes the forms from the bylaw and allows County administration to update them. This enables County staff to update forms as needed with a less complex process. It also allows for the implementation of online application processes.

View draft amendment bylaw here: 2680-24-037

Phase 2: Integrating Hythe and Farmstead Lots

Hythe

Following Hythe’s dissolution, development in the hamlet continues to be regulated under Hythe’s Land Use Bylaw, as it was at the time of dissolution. In this phase of the project, the LUB will be updated to include Hythe.

Farmstead Lots

When a landowner subdivides a farmstead lot, the County does not require them to rezone the parcel from the Agricultural District to a residential one, in order to reduce the cost of the process.

The newly created lots do not meet the requirements of the district and the uses in the district are all secondary to farming. This can create challenges if the property owner wants to have other uses on the property, such as a home occupation.

The LUB states that the County may rezone these properties to an appropriate district. Historically, the County has rezoned these parcels every few years when there are multiple of them to do as a batch. The County will be following the same process as part of this update.

Public consultation in this phase will include direct notification to landowners whose properties may be part of the updates, public notices, open houses, and Public Hearings.

Phase 3: General Requirements

The third phase of the update will be a review of the general requirements for all development, such as development setbacks, landscaping requirements, driveways widths and signs.

Public consultation in this phase will include public notices, making the draft amendments available for comment and Public Hearings, and will include either open houses, a survey or both.

Phase 4: Use Specific Review

The fourth phase will be a review of uses to determine if there should be any changes to requirements for various uses, such as where they are allowed and the development conditions. The review will include a wider range of uses, such as secondary dwellings, agricultural pursuits and home occupations.

Public consultation in this phase will include public notices, making the draft amendments available for comment and Public Hearings, and will include either open houses, a survey or both.

Phase 5: Overlays

The fifth phase will focus on overlay areas to implement policies such as airport vicinity development regulations, design standards for the mixed-use area, and the high visibility corridor. The intent of this phase is to make existing standards easier to find and understand.

Public consultation in this phase will consist of notifications, making the draft amendments available for comment and Public Hearings. There may be additional consultation activities for this phase of the amendments are going to change development standards.

Phase 6: Structure

The sixth phase will be a review of the document structure to see if there are ways to make it simpler and easier to use.

Public consultation in this phase will consist of notifications, making the draft amendments available for comment and Public Hearings.

Complete Projects:

Hamlet Resiliency Strategy (2023-24)

Click Here to View the Hamlet Resiliency Strategy

The Hamlet Resiliency Strategy is a special study looking into the needs off the County’s 9 rural hamlets: Demmitt, Goodfare, Elmworth, La Glace, Valhalla, Huallen, Dimsdale, Teepee Creek and Bezanson. Hythe, Clairmont and Wedgewood were not included because they are urban hamlets and already have specific policies in the Municipal Development Plan.

The strategy provided recommendations for land use and development policies for the rural hamlets that will inform the Municipal Development Plan update and other planning documents. The strategy also includes recommendations for a range of other initiatives such as recreation amenities, economic development and infrastructure.

Future Projects:

Area Structure Plan Reviews (2025)

These plans provide direction for long-term land use and details on the growth and development within a defined area in the County.

Educational Programs (2026)

The County will develop an educational program to help applicants navigate the new Planning Framework.

Other Planning & Development Documents (2026)

This includes a wide range of documents such as policies, non-statutory plans, and bylaws related to development in the County.

How do I get involved?

Considering how important the future of the County, our communities, growth and development is, there will be many opportunities to learn more and provide feedback both in person and online.

This page will be updated frequently with more information and upcoming opportunities to participate. If you would like to be kept informed directly through e-mail, please click the “Stay Informed” box on the right hand side.