Fort Saskatchewan's New Land Use Bylaw

Mature Neighbourhoods Working Groups

Thank you to our community members who have been participating in the Mature Neighbourhood Working Groups! Through the first series of meetings, they helped us better understand what residents love about their neighbourhoods and what they hope for their future. The purpose of these working groups is to under how the new Land Use Bylaw can best implement the MDP objectives that seek to restore the vibrant populations of our Mature Neighbourhoods. We found that residents value their tree lined street, parks, trails, and other community spaces. These public spaces often represent our neighbourhood more than private developments.

Read the Mature Neighbourhood Working Group Series 1 Summary Report

Why a new Land Use Bylaw?

‘Our Fort. Our Future.’ Fort Saskatchewan’s Municipal Development Plan (MDP), adopted in January 2021, is the Plan to guide the City as it grows into a community of over 50,000 residents, over the coming decades. Through extensive community engagement throughout 2019 and 2020, the plan establishes our objectives for growth, development and revitalization for various areas of the city. The Plan, which is a blueprint for city building, recognizes that not all places within the city are same and therefore need different development approaches. More information on the ‘Our Fort. Our Future.’ Plan and its development process.

The Destination: MDP Community Vision

To achieve the objectives of “Our Fort, Our Future”, the City is initiating the process of creating a new bylaw that aligns with the new MDP and will serve the community’s needs into the future. MDP is a high level, long term visionary plan for our community and the Land Use Bylaw regulates development. In other words, if MDP’s community vision is a destination, the Land Use Bylaw is a vehicle or a GPS to get to that destination. In order to make sure we have the best Land Use Bylaw to address the characteristics of your neighbourhoods while achieving the MDP objectives set for the area, we want to hear from you! More information on the objectives for mature neighbourhoods.

Project timeframe
Pre-Land Use Bylaw Research 2021	Draft Land Use Bylaw 2022-23
Pre-Land Use Bylaw Research 2021	2022	2023
Research & Information gathering Starting conversations with Mature Neighbourhood residents	Mature Neighbourhoods conversations continued Start citywide and key stakeholder conversations Begin Drafting Bylaw content	Wrap-up community and stakeholder conversation Finalize draft Bylaw Bring Bylaw to Council for decision

Mature neighbourhoods

The MDP also recognizes that some of our mature neighbourhoods are at a stage where further direction needs to be identified to facilitate sensitive redevelopment and intensification, to ensure that these neighbourhoods thrive. Mature neighbourhoods, that are home to existing homes, mature trees, services and many community amenities require a different approach than developing areas like Southfort and Westpark. We will be reviewing the mature neighbourhoods to gain a deeper understanding of the existing development and their unique characteristics, through data analysis and many conversations with residents. This will help shape the land use bylaw regulations that respect the context while achieving the objectives set out in the MDP.

Our Mature Neighbourhoods include some of the original development patterns in our community. Like people, neighbourhoods have different needs throughout different parts of their lifecycle. Depending on the neighbourhood, the speed at which they are developed, and the era of development, the timelines in the Neighbourhood Lifecycle will shift but the trends are consistent. Each neighbourhood is unique in this way, where Pineview only took 8 years to be fully built out, the Westpark neighbourhood started developing slowly in the 1990s and is still being built out today.

Lifecycle of a Neighbourhood

How we are growing

Pre 1960 - Today

Click on the image to view more details

January to August 2021

Administration researched different zoning approaches that could best serve the various parts of our community and gathering information. This included identifying challenges emerging from the existing Land Use Bylaw regulations and barriers to fulfilling different objectives, exploring how other communities have found success or challenges in addressing similar regulatory issues and compiling community information.

June to December 2021

Resident Engagement

June 2021 — Information Sessions

In June 2021, the City hosted project information sessions to initiate conversation with the residents of mature neighbourhoods.

View the Engagement Summary Report

Working Groups

In 2021, working group sessions focused on building deeper understanding of residents’ experiences of living in and perspectives on their neighbourhoods. The sessions commenced in September and will continue throughout the new Land Use Bylaw Project.

Stakeholder Engagement

We will share the ‘Land Use Bylaw Approaches – Discussion Paper’ with the stakeholders that are involved in the process of city building, and use the Land Use Bylaw on a regular basis. i.e. development and builders community.

Intent of this conversation is getting understanding of challenges of the City’s current land use bylaw or conventional land use bylaws in general and feedback on the potential new approaches to the Land Use Bylaw.

December 2021

Subject to the budget approval, a project plan will be prepared for ‘Draft Land Use Bylaw’ preparation.

2022

Conditional on budget approval, Administration will proceed with Phase 2 of the Land Use Bylaw Project. This will include continued community and stakeholder engagement, while using information gathered in previous engagements, MDP content, and research, to begin drafting a new Land Use Bylaw.

2023

Conditional on budget approval, Administration will finalize the new land use bylaw and conclude community and stakeholder conversations.

Frequently Asked Questions

This section will be updated as the project progresses and questions are received.

What is a Land Use Bylaw?

A Land Use Bylaw is a Bylaw that all Alberta municipalities are required to adopt. It identifies the development rights and regulations for private property throughout the municipality, the process for applying for developments and the associating requirements. If you intend on altering your property the current Land Use Bylaw is available online and we suggest you contact the City’s Planning & Development Department at 780-992-6198.

How does this impact me?

If you are planning to develop or alter your existing property or change its use, the new Land Use Bylaw regulations will be applicable and potentially impact your property once adopted. This is the same as how the current Land Use Bylaw regulates development on all properties in the city. If you are not planning to develop or alter your existing property the Land Use Bylaw will have minimal impact until you decide to.

When a new Land Use Bylaw is in place it will identify your development rights. If these are different than your current development rights, as long as you are currently using your property legally, you can continue to use your property as you are.

What is the relationship between ‘Our Fort. Our Future.’ and the Land Use Bylaw?

‘Our Fort. Our Future.’ is the City’s Municipal Development Plan (MDP). All municipalities in Alberta are required to have an MDP, they are high level policy documents that outline the community’s aspiration for the future and provide policy direction to help Administration and Council pursue that vision. The Land Use Bylaw is a regulatory document that regulates development on private property in the City. As the document that regulates the specifics of development, it is important for the Land Use Bylaw to be aligned with the MDP so development decisions are in line with and support the aspirational future of the community.