Genung looking forward to working with CMRB

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It took a few months, but the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board held its first official meeting on Mar. 22 after the provincially mandated growth management board was legislated at the start of January, a meeting that Mayor Jeff Genung left feeling optimistic about despite some of the concerns surrounding it.


“It was largely an organizational meeting, picking committees and going over the structure,” said Genung, but there was conversation surrounding the important topics like development and the board’s role when it comes to approving them.

“My understanding is it’s another layer on the planning document,” said Genung, anticipating that the board will have their own regional plan between the Municipal Government Act and Municipal Development Plan. This would mean that even before a municipality’s council votes on an Area Structure Plan it would first need approval from the CMRB.

The problem here is determining just what would qualify as requiring the CMRB’s approval. Genung expects that anything that would see town or city boundaries expand or developments on another member’s borders, like what Rocky View is doing around Cochrane, would require regional approval. The big question is whether internal development needs to be brought forward as well.

Pointing to examples like Greystone in Cochrane and Inglewood in Calgary, Genung noted that municipalities questioned how important it is for something in the middle of a community that is nowhere near their regional partners to be discussed and approved by people living dozens of kilometres away. Given the rate of growth in the area, Genung expects everything will cumulatively affect everyone else in time so they will need to really get to know what everyone is doing and how it will impact everyone else.

“For too long municipalities have been looking at their own borders. I think everything will be on the table; water, wastewater, traffic. We even had discussion about ambulance services,” said Genung, pointing to water as the biggest concern.

While it may not seem like a community in Cochrane would affect one in Calgary or vice versa, the fact of the matter is that no more water license are being issued in the region. As such, anyone wanting to grow will likely need to buy someone else’s license or hook up to another municipality’s system, which is most likely to be Calgary.

Combined with all the other upgrades and stresses placed upon infrastructure locally and regionally by growth, Genung feels it would make sense for the ten members to know what is being done and how it will impact servicing in the future.

For example, Rocky View’s administrative staff recently stated that there is enough sewer capacity for them to increase density in Cochrane North but ignored Cochrane’s protestations that the Town was not consulted on the matter. While there might be capacity to bring waste water from Cochrane North into Cochrane, there was no conversation about Cochrane’s capacity to send it to Calgary or the impact it would have on Calgary’s treatment centres.

And while Cochrane North is only looking to add 43 residential units, adding a bit here and a bit there can build up if everyone keeps thinking about their municipality alone without considering how it affects everyone else.

This then leads into the problem of the voting structure, which has had people worried since the legislated board was first announced as it gave Calgary a veto on anything by virtue of its substantially greater population with about 1.2 million people in a region of about 1.4 million.

“The voting structure is pretty clear. Calgary can basically veto anything but four members of the board can basically veto anything as well,” said Genung, which means Calgary cannot run roughshod over everyone.

Genung was also optimistic that the CMRB would behave much like Edmonton’s growth management board where Edmonton has yet to use their veto, something he has faith in given the collaborative feeling among the CMRB members.

“I don’t think it’ll be Calgary telling everyone else what to do but a group deciding what is best for the region,” said Genung, admitting that they have not yet defined whether the board will be a permissive or prohibitive body but that feeling was that everyone around the table is serious about making this work rather than pushing their individual agendas.

“It’s an interesting time,” Genung admitted, adding that Councillor Patrick Wilson will be joining him at the CMRB meetings, which look like they will be held every month on the third of fourth Friday at Mount Royal University.

Given how complex some of the issues can be, the presence of some mayors who have several terms under their belts and an absence counting as an affirmative in the event of a vote, Genung feels it is important to have a second member of town council present with full understanding of what is going on in order to ensure Cochrane’s voice is heard.

Wilson will also be sitting on the CMRB’s servicing committee while Genung sits on the land use and governance committees.

If you are ever interested in attending one of the CMRB’s meetings you can visit to see when and where they will be meeting as well as what will be discussed. The next meeting is set to be held at Mount Royal at 9 a.m. in room EC2010 on Apr. 20.




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