What Can I Do?

Hello everyone!

 

WE DID IT! We here in Thorhild County have some really amazing news! Thorhild County put out a release notifying the public of a Special Meeting Scheduled for 2 PM on Feb 2, 2023 at the Thorhild County Council Chambers with the specific intent to defeat the proposed Land Use Bylaw! The Special Meeting lasted for 2 minutes, where Council UNANIMOUSLY defeated the proposed Land Use Bylaw, meaning the proposed Bylaw will not be enacted and the current Land Use Bylaw remains in effect.

 

We are so grateful that Council listened to the feedback from our community - thank you, Councillors!

 

​

​

We're a small group of Thorhild County residents (we aren't politicians or lawyers, and we have farms, families, and day jobs) in Thorhild County who stumbled onto our proposed Land Use Bylaw (LUB). None of us expected that our concern and experience would reach so many people. We are pleased that it has, though! We are not associated with the government at any level, and none of us are lawyers (some of us do have municipal government experience, though not as elected officials). 

 

For the hundreds of people who have been contacting us for guidance and help, this is an example displaying how community engagement is successful. Democracy at its finest. We have attached the information that we have been sharing below - these are the steps that we followed. It's a long read full of valid information and links to each source - municipal and provincial.

 

Additionally, we received an email directly from our MP Shannon Stubb's office this morning - we had been CC'd into a fellow citizen's email and she responded to us directly that "The steps [we] listed below would be the steps that would be recommended for bylaw concerns, so that information to people in your email below is great, as it provides not only an overview but also action steps."

 

​

 

Congratulations, Thorhild County residents!

 

Keep engaging with your municipal governments.

 

All the best,

 

A small group of engaged citizens

 

 

Information that we've been sharing on our process and what you can do:

​

Through social media, our website, and our email, it has become clear that this is not an issue specific to our county, but all municipalities all over Alberta and Canada. This is happening everywhere. Right now. The framework of what information we do have is below and can be used throughout Alberta. We don't have specific processes for people outside of Alberta, though the Alberta-specific processes should have similar resources in other provinces.

 

The *main* message is: get people involved. The more people we have encouraging local councils (emails and phone calls, showing up to Council Meetings) to make the right decisions, the better outcomes we are likely to have. Bring attention to the issue in all the counties and municipalities and stop these prohibitive LUBs in their tracks - province and country wide.
 

There is so much information to share with fellow members of the public, that it's difficult to condense the information into one or two small paragraphs. Especially since all municipalities are experiencing LUB reviews in different stages and using slightly altered language. The process is mostly the same though, so we are sharing the information we share with people who contact us asking for direction and help. We hope that you find it helpful!  

 

At the end, there is a list of some of the options available to you as a community/ the general public. Unfortunately, Land Use-specific issues themselves can't be petitioned, but in communicating with your Council and CAO that the community is willing to mobilize in keeping them accountable, the hope is that they will choose to do the right thing. For example: People in our community were saying that they were wanting Council to be investigated for corruption and put in jail. Now, that's not a viable option, but it communicates to them how upset people are. We have provided some viable options at the end. Municipal Affairs is also a very good resource for information (information included below).  

 

We encourage our fellow residents to call or email their councillors and the CAO (Chief Administrative Officer), as advised by Municipal Affairs advisors. This is the advice for people in all municipalities. Encourage everyone in your county to contact the CAO AND your councillors to express their concerns - the more people who engage, the more "pressure" there is for councils to be accountable and act in a way responsible to the people who voted for them.

 

As Albertans, we are always allowed to contact the Government of Alberta Office of Municipal Affairs and speak to their advisors if we have questions or concerns about our municipal bylaws and government. We have spoken with the advisors there multiple times about many questions. They aren't lawyers, so they advise you on how the Municipal Government Act applies to your concern (they have been great with us so far). If you call the switchboard (phone number 310-0000) and ask to speak to an advisor at Municipal Affairs, they will direct you to the correct people. 

​

You can also contact the Law Society of Alberta. They will connect you with an appropriate lawyer and you get the first half an hour free. 1 (800) 661-1095.

 

The CAO brings forth documents from the Administration to the councillors to read, debate the merits of, and ultimately pass and enact or defeat. If there are clauses or statements in the documents that councillors don't agree with or don't like, it is their responsibility to address those with other Council members and the Administration/CAO. 

 

As residents of our county, the feedback that we have for our Council is that we needed more awareness of the LUB review process before it got to the "Final Draft" stage and before the Public Hearing- engage people on social media, by mail, and in person. Make sure you and the people in your community voice your concerns before or during the Public Hearing - do this by registering to speak, submitting letters to the CAO or Council to be read at the Public Hearing by the Administration (if you can't attend), attending digitally or by phone (if those are an option), and by attending the meeting and speaking when the floor is open to people who wish to speak (unregistered speakers). We bolded and underlined before or during the Public Hearing, because residents and the Public should also be made aware ahead of time that- by protocol set out in the Municipal Government Act (all municipalities must follow this Government of Alberta document)- once the Public Hearing is closed, Councillors are not permitted to discuss or consider further input or feedback from the public in regards to Bylaw content. Any issue brought to Council before the closing of the Public Hearing is supposed to be considered by Council in their deliberations. 

​

​

 

At the stage we raised concerns, here in Thorhild County, we found ourselves at a slight impasse -  our Public Hearing had closed and we hadn't gone through the Final Reading. Council can also hold a second public hearing, though they are not obligated to. As a result, we encouraged everyone in our county to contact their Councillor and the CAO and request that there be a second Public Hearing AFTER the amendments have been made, but BEFORE the Second Reading.

 

A lot of people have asked us what a Land Use Bylaw (LUB) is and why/how it impacts them. All municipalities in Alberta (and most everywhere else) are required to have one in place. This document governs how different land types can be used and how - for example, it can stop a dump from popping up in your backyard or regulate how your neighbours can use dynamite underground so your well doesn't collapse in. LUBs are used to govern all land types such as agricultural, residential, commercial, and industrial.

​

​

 

We are encouraging people to check the status of their own municipality's LUB and get involved if it is in review or rewrite stages. Participate in the surveys and watch the progress - provide input when it's asked for. A good place to start looking for a Land Use Bylaw document for your county is the County/ Municipality website or simply searching, "Municipality Name" Land Use Bylaw. We had to use a search engine to find the document, since it wasn't readily available or searchable on our County's website.  

 

Our recommendations to members of the public (in any municipality) for this process are below:

 

1- Familiarise yourself with the existing Bylaws.

​

2- When were they last written/ updated? Do they need updating?

​

3- Check out your consultant - their company name and logo will be on the front page or within the first two pages of the document. Some consultants are easy to tell if they're a good match for your County. Some are easy to determine that they aren't a good fit, too (like having an "Urban Planning" firm draft documents for an agricultural county). Most have a website, browse it.

​

4- Read your new proposed Land Use Bylaw (take a glass of wine, tea, or hot chocolate if you need to)

​

4a- Make a list of all of the changes that concern you, or as many as you can.

​

4b- Look for "In case of an emergency" clauses (lockdowns, climate lockdowns, and public emergencies).

​

5- If you aren't happy with what you see in the proposed Bylaw, request justification for the specific changes from your Councillor and the CAO/Administration and communicate your concerns with the CAO and your Councillor.

​

6- Request amendments and edits to the draft before it passes the First Hearing. Read the document and be prepared before the First Hearing, which is where the councillors can ask questions about the document and put forth motions to have it adjusted before returning it to Chambers for another attempt at a First Reading.

​

6a- Tell your neighbours and friends. If the document is still unsatisfactory to you and passes the First Reading, speak at the Public Hearing and get your neighbours and friends to as well. (People can speak if they aren't registered, but if you are registered to speak, then you will have a designated time to speak). Articulate the issues you/they have with the document. Having people in the community like us who monitor the activity of Council is awesome to keep Council accountable and transparent.

​

7- Ask questions and demand answers.

​

8- Stick with the process. Watch for when Council brings the LUB to its next reading (second or third) and be there for the meeting.

 

Approaching the new proposed LUB, we highly recommend reading it through. Every page.

Do not forget to cross-reference the definitions of terms because those definitions can be quite restrictive without you realising it. Look at the sections on "Enforcement," "Non-Conforming" structures or "Non-conformity," "Non-compliant," and Land Use Districts that are relevant to you (though it's good to have a sense of what is happening in all of the Land Use Zones; for example, some of our members are on farms and others are on residential properties, so we each looked at the Land Use Zone appropriate to where we live and then kept reading about the other zones). Also, search the document for language like "in the opinion of," "to the satisfaction of," and "deemed necessary by" the Development Authority. Every municipality uses slightly different language, so you can key word search for (Find in page): satisfaction, opinion, non-con (to bring up clauses that have non-conforming or non-conformity in them). Some other places to look for excessive restrictions are Signage (freedom of expression and speech), Landscaping (and other General Requirements like Fencing), and Hens (yes, chickens- check if hen enclosures need permits no matter how big or small they are, even if they're on farms). 

 

If the Bylaw refers you to another County Bylaw, cross-check with that Bylaw and make sure that the document exists AND is what the new proposed LUB suggests it is (for example, our proposed LUB directed the reader to the "Urban Hen Bylaw" though Council voted against Urban Hens in 2021 and there is no such document. Our proposed LUB also directed us to the Animal Control Act for how to keep animals; however, our County's Animal Control Bylaw is specific to dogs). 

 

We have been encouraging the residents in Thorhild County who contact us to call and/or email our Councillors and the CAO (Chief Administrative Officer). So this also applies to other counties. The key is ALSO to contact the municipality's office of the CAO, since they also have to record input and engagement. There are no wrong or right questions to ask, but asking questions instead of making statements is a good tactic. Making statements is also necessary.

 

IF your Councillors decide to move forward with decisions after people from the community have been engaging them, and the community is unhappy, there are a couple of petitions that you can launch as a community:

 

1- Petition Council to rescind the resolution. This is asking for Council to reverse their decision.

Here is the user-friendly handbook on how to petition your council.

 

​

​

2- Recall petitions. For each councillor that you want replaced, you will need an individual petition. This triggers byelections in the districts that each councillor was removed from. If all councillors are removed, then a full election would be called.

 

3- Petition the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Rebecca Schultz, for an investigation into the affairs of the municipality. The Minister may recommend a variety of options from firing/hiring staff, removing Council members and calling a byelection, to appointing an administrator to act in replacement of Council.

 

Side note: If enough people are dissatisfied with how the County is operating, this is always an option. 20% of the electors in the municipality have to sign the petition for a sufficient petition.

 

The user-friendly handbook on how to petition the Minister of Municipal Affairs (options 3 and 4)

 

​

 

4- Petition the Minister of Municipal Affairs to Initiate a Viability Review for the County. If enough people are disgruntled with how the County is being run, instead of Option 3, the Minister of Municipal Affairs can initiate a review of the County’s viability.  This is requesting a review to dissolve the county. Effectively, once the examination of the County is complete, the Minister may dissolve the municipality and partition portions of the County out to other surrounding Counties. This petition can be undertaken at any point, and 30% of the County electors must sign the petition for it to be sufficient.

 

5- Hire a lawyer to represent the interests of the residents in your municipality.

 

It's a lot of work to keep councils accountable if they are not conducting business in a way that is best for the residents of their county. We look forward to updates.

 

We also recognise that this issue isn't localised to our county! We're encouraging people across the province and the country to start paying attention to their municipal LUBs, whether they are in a review or rewrite, and what stage of the process they're in. Hopefully an engaged and watchful public can keep the punitive and overreaching Land Use Bylaws from being enacted all over the country.

​

And if you're on Facebook, we have a page there, too, where you can find discussion around this topic and others. Now that our proposed Land Use Bylaw has been defeated, we have shifted our focus to include Land Use topics in Thorhild County as well as other bylaw and legislative impacts to the community, both internally and externally (provincial and federal impacts). We want ALL of our communities in the county to remain cohesive and vibrant:  Voice of Thorhild County

 

For land use bylaw information exclusively (for all Counties and Municipalities in AB), visit the group Alberta Land Use Bylaw Watchdog. We encourage you all to join that group to contribute and stay up to date on all things land use bylaw related in your own community!!

 

We can be found on Twitter, too: https://twitter.com/VoiceOfThor

​

Good luck and all the best!

​