This Learning Primer was written by ©Judy Stewart, LL.M., 2011 for Sustainability Resources Ltd.

This Learning Resource Module will enable participants to understand the relationship between water management objectives and the associated land use bylaws that contribute to implementation of watershed management planning. This Learning Resource Module will also include an overview of the use of land use bylaws to conserve and protect riparian areas, wetlands, alluvial aquifers, ground water protection zones, and other conservation objectives.

What is a Municipal Land Use Bylaw?

Under Part 17 of the Municipal Government Act[i] (MGA), every municipal council in Alberta must pass a Land Use Bylaw to address land use, subdivision, and development matters.

• A Land Use Bylaw is created pursuant to Part 17: Planning and development provisions, section 640, and enacted through three separate bylaw readings by council after a prescribed public hearing process.
• Through provisions in its Land Use Bylaw, a municipal council “may prohibit or regulate and control the use and development of land and buildings in a municipality.”[ii]
• A Land Use Bylaw MUST include certain provisions. For example, “a land use bylaw must divide the municipality into districts of the number and area the council considers appropriate.”[iii] A municipal council must ensure that each land use district has one permitted land use, and each land use district may have one or more discretionary uses.
• A Land Use Bylaw MAY include other provisions for specific matters “either generally or with respect to any district, or part of a district” [iv] that may reflect community values as set out in Municipal Development Plans and Area Structure Plans for those lands.
• Municipal councils have wide discretion to incorporate Land Use Bylaw provisions to implement planning policy. “Discretion” means that a council has the freedom to act and think within the legal limits, jurisdiction and authority prescribed by the MGA.

How does a Land Use Bylaw Differ from Municipal Statutory Planning Documents?

A Land Use Bylaw is enforceable municipal law. Statutory plans, like a Municipal Development Plan (MDP) or an Area Structure Plan (ASP) are council’s planning policy documents, but they are not enforceable; and a council is not bound to undertake any of the projects referred to in them. Statutory plans adopted by a council must be consistent with each other.

• A Land Use Bylaw is enforceable in Alberta courts pursuant to sections 541-559, just like any other municipal law.[v
• A MDP provides council’s broad planning policy to guide land use and development activities for all lands within the municipal jurisdiction. ASPs reflect council’s specific policy direction for land use and development within specific areas of land. Statutory plans reflect shared community values and are adopted as policy through council bylaws enacted after prescribed public hearings.
• A Land Use Bylaw, and all municipal statutory plans adopted or municipal actions taken by council or any of its agents must be consistent with the current Alberta Land Use Policies.[vi] In the future, the province’s land use policies will be articulated in Regional Land Use Plans under the Alberta Land Stewardship Act.[vii] Currently, there are no approved Regional Land Use Plans in Alberta.
• The current Alberta Land Use Policies include provincial policies for land use with respect to natural environment resources and water resources.[viii]

What Land Uses in Alberta are Exempt from Municipal Regulation under Part 17?

Part 17 of the MGA and the regulations and bylaws under Part 17 do not apply to a number of land uses, geographic areas or certain activities regulated and controlled under other provincial legislation. The Lieutenant Governor in Council may exempt an action, person or thing from the application of all or of any provision of Part 17 or the regulations or bylaws under Part 17.

• A development or subdivision for the sole purpose of creating a road or pipeline is exempt from municipal regulation and control, as are confined feedlots and manure storage facilities developed and controlled under the Agricultural Operations Practices Act.[ix]
• Métis Settlements and designated areas of Crown lands are exempt from municipal regulation and control.
• A license, permit, approval or other authorization granted by NRCB, ERCB or AEUB prevails over any statutory plan, land use bylaw, subdivision decision or development decision authorized by any agency under Part 17 of the MGA.[x]

What is the relationship between a Watershed Management Plan Adopted by a Municipality and its Land Use Bylaw?

A Watershed Management Plan (WMP) adopted voluntarily by a municipality provides watershed management planning policies that may be included, at the discretion of the municipal council, in a municipality’s Municipal Development Plan or any other statutory plan, if enabled under Part 17 of the MGA. It is not mandatory for a municipal council to adopt a relevant WMP, or to implement its objectives. Most WMPs are created under the legislative framework of the Water Act,[xi] not the MGA.

• A council may exercise discretion and include provisions in its Land Use Bylaw to prohibit or regulate and control the development of land or buildings on certain landscapes that reflect objectives in a relevant WMP. A municipal council is not mandated to create such provisions.
• For example, a council might designate all lands within the municipality that are subject to flooding in a 1:100 year flood event or that are subject to subsidence or that are low-lying, marshy or unstable as “natural green space” land use districts, and prohibit certain “development of buildings”[xii] within that land use district to one permitted use and one or many discretionary uses. Such a land use district might be used to implement objectives stated in a WMP. Part 17 of the MGA provides some discretion under section 640(4), but, generally, Part 17 is quite prescriptive.
• Other Parts of the MGA enable a municipality to enact bylaws to regulate or control certain activities. Part 2, section 7 provides general jurisdiction to pass bylaws that may be used to achieve WMP objectives, for example, control of invasive species on private lands.

• Part 3, section 60 provides special municipal powers to enact a bylaw for the “direction, control and management” of rivers, streams, watercourses, lakes and other natural bodies of water within the municipality.

How Could a Municipality Conserve or Manage Riparian lands, Wetlands, Alluvial Aquifers, and Groundwater Seeps and Springs through its Land Use Bylaw?

Riparian lands, wetlands, alluvial aquifers and groundwater seeps and springs are all examples of “lands” or land locations found within municipal boundaries. A Land Use Bylaw can be used to prohibit certain land uses, subdivision and development on or within certain distances of these lands or land locations.

• These lands are all described within section 640(4)(l) of the MGA which provides discretion to a council to enact land use bylaw provisions to prohibit and regulate and control “the development of buildings” on “land subject to flooding or subsidence or that is low lying, marshy or unstable”, or “land adjacent to or within a specified distance of the bed and shore of any lake, river, stream or other body of water.”[xiii] (It is worth noting here, that the body of water does not have to be “natural” in this section”.)
• As noted above, “buildings” are broadly defined in the MGA.
• For an example of some land use bylaw provisions that may be included to protect these lands, see the Template of Land Use Bylaw Regulations for the Protection of Natural Environment Features and Water Resources including Wetlands, Riparian Lands and Reserve Lands.[xiv] The document also provides some MDP policy statements that reflect objectives found in WMPs.

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