February 12, 2014Com ment subm itted for discussions relating to
the Municipal Governmen t Act Reviewcurrently in progress:Kneehill
County has recently given third reading to a direct control land
use b ylawestablishing a district encom passing approximately 3
quarter sections for the BadlandsM otorsport Resort. A substantial
portion of the p roposed uses, including the race trackitself, will
occur in the Rosebud River Valley which had earlier been identified
as anenvironmentally significant area pursuant to environmental
studies undertaken andapproved by the mun icipal council pursuant
to the Provincial Land U se Policies. Themunicipal council seems to
be und er the impression that once the env ironmental studieswere
com plete the resulting reports and recomm endations need only be
put into the locallibrary, but otherwise ignored.The land use
approval was g iven despite both the mun icipal MD P and Provincial
LandUse Policies that go to great lengths to encourage
environmental protection inEnvironmentally Significant Areas. A com
plete and independent Environmental ImpactAssessment for the
proposed M otorsports Resort has not yet been done and qu
iteobviously should have been done before the A rea Structure Plan,
let alone the land usedistrict, for this development was approved.
Denial of racetracks weaving amongwetlands and on the slopes of an
unstable riverbank should, quite frankly, be a nobrainer . There
are other locations where racetracks can be built with few environm
entalimpacts.The A lberta Go vernment seem s to have end less
rhetoric which leads Albertans and therest of the world to believe
that they value environmental protection highly. The currentM GA is
heavy on protecting the rights of Municipal Councils to make local
decisionsbut light on actually directing and educating Municipal
Councils as to the process theymust follow to evaluate developments
on an environmental basis. This development is ablatant example of
how Provincial environm ental policies have failed to be
effectivelyincorporated into the M unicipal Government A ct or
implemented.Please have a careful look and decide what changes need
to be made in the MG A toensure the decision Kneehill County has
made will not be repeated. Municipalities needa M GA and a set of L
and U se Policies that clearly direct decision makers to
enforceenvironmental protection. Developers should not assume they
can purchase any piece ofland and m assage we ak environm ental
policies to suit their desires. Please refer to thewebsite
savctherosebud.com for more information on this particular
example.In addition to the foregoing, the project was universally
opposed by directly affected andneighboring property owners. Over
100 people spoke in opposition to the approval, butto no avail. I
understand that planning is not simply a matter of plebiscites.
But, if publichearings are of no consequence, then why are they
required? Why ask for the publics'opinion if you are g oing to
ignore it.Sincerely,Wendy Clark
