Land Use Planning

The Municipal Government Act (MGA) is the legislative framework in which all municipalities across the Province of Alberta operate. It provides the governance model for municipalities and lays the foundation of how we function, including areas in planning and development.

Planning decisions are guided by statutory plans, bylaws, and policies adopted by County Council. These adopted statutory plans must be consistent with each other. For any conflict or inconsistency between statutory plans: the Intermunicipal Development Plan will prevail over a Municipal Development Plan; the Municipal Development Plan will prevail over an Area Structure Plan. These statutory plans help guide the regulations in the land use bylaw. Additionally, non-statutory plans are other policy documents that help guide decision making; they are often developed to provide guidance for development in an area.