Progress on the development of a Rocky View County (RVC) Aggregate Resource Plan continues to move forward as County council has approved an update to the resource plan Terms of Reference (TOR), and is now officially seeking the services of consultants to push the plan's development into its next phase.
At their October 8 meeting, RVC council directed County administration to seek proposals from consultants who will ideally work on aggregate site monitoring, third-party technical reviews of aggregate development applications, and respond to “stakeholder inquiries.” All of which is worked outlined in the Aggregate Resource Plan Stakeholder Advisory Committee final report recommendations.
By a 4-2 vote council approved an amendment to the Aggregate Resource Plan TOR, with Division 5 and 7 Counc. Greg Boehlke and Al Schule voting in opposition. Boehlke and Schule disapproved of a required budget adjustment of $40,000 that will be needed to hire a consultant.
The Council Report presented to councillors states that “the updated TOR includes a commitment to develop an Aggregate Site Monitoring Bylaw as a means to ensure proactive monitoring of aggregate sites and a process for thorough technical review of relevant operating reports.”
The report states that a key recommendation of the Aggregate Resource Plan Stakeholder Advisory Committee was a belief that the County should actively regulate aggregate operations through “proactive site monitoring, timely expert review of submitted operating reports, and take appropriate enforcement action when necessary.”
Administration officials told council the recommendation was endorsed by the industry and residential representatives who sat on the stakeholder committee.
Administration also stated that the updated TOR includes a commitment to develop an Aggregate Site Monitoring Bylaw as a means to ensure proactive monitoring of aggregate sites and a process for thorough technical review of relevant operating reports.
County administration also proposed the potential for council to increase the County’s existing service level in the monitoring of aggregate sites “through the assignment of additional resources,” which would allow the County to establish a more comprehensive monitoring strategy for aggregate development.
It’s expected that consultants will be hired and the next phase of the Aggregate Resource Plan implementation will be ready for council review at some point in Q2 2024.
County gravel plan development slowly moves forward
For years, RVC has been working on the development of an ARP that would guide County gravel development policy. Across multiple councils RVC administration has toiled to create, and council has struggled to pass, an adequate and representative ARP.
This last attempt by the ARP Stakeholder Advisory Committee has brought the County close, but the bureaucratic process and time needed by administration to create a plan of action has pushed the adoption of an ARP workplace back once again.
The six-person Stakeholder Advisory Committee, chaired by independent professional mediator Barbara McNeil, met intermittently From August 2023 to March 2024.
While it was clear from the committee’s recorded sessions that the bridge that divided residential, environmental, and industry concerns were at times cavernous, the diametrically opposing viewpoints of the committee's residential and industry representatives were able to find a section of common ground.
In the end, the committee developed six recommendations that included the County development of performance standards, proactive regulation practices, requirements for application, a publicly accessible online platform dedicated to aggregate development, a mandatory stakeholder engagement process necessary for a development application, and an aggregate plan with clear and accessible language.
The Stakeholder Advisory Committee worked out a group of recommendations for council. The public showed their approval for the recommendations through participation of surveys. Councillors approved of the information and authorized the creation of a work plan.
