The Guide for Local Area Planning

Committee signs off on new name and proposed amendments for the guidebook 

The Guide for Local Area Planning (previously named “Guidebook for Great Communities”) was back at the Planning & Urban Development Committee (PUD) of Council’s meeting on May 5, 2021 after Council directed City Administration to make amendments in March. The Committee directed Administration, after a proposal from Mayor Nenshi, to use the document with the 62 amendments that were proposed (after engagement, public presentations and debate in April) as a “best-practice guide” so city officials could use the principles for creating the statutory Local Area Plans, which guide community redevelopment once each individual multi-community Plan undergoes engagement and is adopted by Council. This was approved.  

The Guide will now be a non statutory document, and does not hold the weight of policy and because the Guide does not require a decision by full Council, it did not have to move forward to a future Combined Meeting of Council for approval. 

Rosedale expressed concern in our submission at the meeting, with the lack of clarity in the Single Family Detached Special Policy Area policy which was among the amendments to the Plan and how it could affect our community. We will continue to work with the North Hill Communities Local Area Plan Team on this issue and keep you informed. 

Local Area Plans are statutory documents and the North Hill Communities Local Area Plan/NHCLAP, the first LAP to be approved in the City, will be revised in the coming weeks to reflect the changes to the Guide and returns to Council on June 21. The LAPs apply the Guide principles with a higher level of granularity for the multi-community Plans – there are nine in the NHCLAP. 

Other Committee direction included developing a work plan to complete local area plans using the guide during The City’s next four-year budget cycle (2023-2026). The team will present the work plan to PUD by the end of March 2022. 

The team will also implement a lessons-learned component to the local area planning process. The findings – compiled with input from those involved in creating LAPs – will be presented to the Committee along with the plans, and contribute to ongoing improvements and evolution of the Guide.   

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