Canmore is in the process of rewriting its Municipal Development Plan (MDP) and part of that high level planning document considers what is needed for living and growing as a community with wildlife.
Development planner Tracy Woitenko said the current MDP, approved in 1998, includes recognizing the Bow Corridor Ecosystem Advisory Group (BCEAG) document identifying current wildlife corridors and habitat patches in the Bow Valley.
She also pointed to a requirement in the MDP for an environmental impact statement when development is proposed adjacent to a corridor or habitat patch.
But the question being put out to the community through the consultation process is, while recognizing development has and will continue to happen in the valley, and that we also want a healthy functioning landscape, how can the municipality direct and manage growth and human use in an appropriate way?
“We are looking for people to tell us how can we have less of an impact on wildlife,” Woitenko said.
One issue that has been brought up recently is human use management in environmentally sensitive areas. The Town is currently working with a committee process to review how that is currently managed and what more can be done in the future.
The MDP rewrite consultation has covered a number of topics so far, including wildlife, affordability, community character and economic development.
Woitenko said the process so far has included feedback at the farmers market, an online discussion board and social media, but there are more ways for people to take part.
“We are encouraging people to submit comments by email, or handwritten comments and drop them in to us,” she said.
Some in the community may remember the prior process to develop a new MDP for the community, the Community Sustainability Plan. While a legal challenge to changes proposed to that plan saw it sidelined, Woitenko said a lot of the work from that process is still applicable to the current rewrite of the document.
“One thing we are trying to highlight is we are using this process to build upon the work that was done previously,” she said.
The areas the municipality has sought feedback on currently are ones where significant changes have occurred that Woitenko said the planning department wanted to explore again before putting forward a draft MDP.
The feedback deadline is Oct. 20, after which the Town will finalize a draft MDP to then take back to the community for further consultation before council considers adopting the statutory planning document.
Go to www.canmore.ca/MDP/ for more information.
