Province mandating new Growth Management Board for Calgary Region

The City of Chestermere will be represented on the new Calgary region Growth Management Board (GMB) that will come into effect next year under amendments to the Municipal Government Act.
“I sincerely hope that [the] 10 municipalities that sit at the table can create a good working group that benefits the entire region,” said Chestermere Mayor Patricia Matthews.
Under the provincial amendments to the Municipal Government Act, a GMB is required in both the Calgary and Edmonton metro regions.
There will be 10 municipalities on the board.
In addition to Chestermere, the Calgary region board will be made up of the Cities of Airdrie and Calgary, the Towns of Cochrane, High River, Okotoks and Strathmore and the MD of Foothills and Rocky View and Wheatland Counties.
The mandate of these boards is guarantee regional collaboration and decision making.
This will include the promoting of long term sustainability, environmentally sustainable growth and the economic competitiveness of the region.
“I think it’s going to be a different environment,” said Matthews, “because we haven’t had all of us together as a group and there’s going to have to be consideration for what that new group looks like in moving things forward.”
The specific governance model, roles and responsibilities of the board are still being developed however it has been proposed that to fulfill their mandate, a 20 year growth plan will need to be created along with a five year metropolitan servicing plan.
The next steps in the development of the boards, as proposed by the government are the creation of a committee with representation from the impacted municipalities to draft regulations for the establishment of the GMB.
This work is scheduled to finish in February. Next the Minster, Mayors and Reeves will meet to review the draft regulations in March. The draft will be finalized and sent for approval by the provincial government in April followed by a 60 period for public feedback.
The regulations will cover the proposed voting model, compliance by municipality’s and conflict resolution.
Decisions by the board are proposed to be binding and decisions will be made with a double majority voting model.
“Which means that two thirds of the population has to be in agreement along with two thirds of the membership,” said Matthews.
The new GMB will be taking on and replacing many of the roles of the current Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP).
Unlike the new board membership in the CRP is voluntary. None of the counties in the region have chosen to join he CRP.
How the GMB will affect the CRP and what future role the partnership will have is still unknown at this time.
Matthews said the CRP has done a lot of good work and she will be disappointed if it dissolves.
“The Calgary Regional Partnership has been moving forward projects and has been accomplishing things for more than a decade,” said Matthews.
“I think it’s a serious loss to the entire region for them not to continue in that voluntary nature,” she said.