Dispute Between Wheatland and Kneehill Counties
Badlands Appeals to the Municipal Government Board Again
November, 2015
Badlands went back to the Municipal Government Board and requested a review of their decision. At issue was building the access road to Kneehill County standards. Only two of six landowners provided additional right of way for the access road. The Municipal Government Board stood by their decision.
Wheatland Wins the Intermunicipal Dispute
May 12, 2015
The Municipal Government Board ordered Kneehill County to change the Direct Control Land Use Bylaw for Badlands to ensure the access road to the site was built before the racetrack is operational and according to the Traffic Impact Assessment. That report states that the access must be built to Kneehill County standards.
The amended Kneehill County bylaw (includes the document for the Board Order)
We believe the resources used by the province, the counties, and Save the Rosebud to participate in a Municipal Government Board decision were entirely avoidable had Kneehill County addressed intermunicipal co-operation in accordance with Alberta Land Use Policies from the beginning of the process.
Save the Rosebud presentation and submission by lawyer, Hugh Ham
Additional information submission by lawyer, Hugh Ham
Badlands Traffic Impact Assessment
Municipal Government Board Action
January, 2015
In November the MGB held a hearing in Drumheller to hear arguments in a dispute arising from access roads to the proposed race track site between Kneehill County and Wheatland County.
Back in June at a preliminary hearing the Save the Rosebud group was granted unprecedented status by the MGB to make a submission at the hearing in November.
Meanwhile, a wrinkle was added to the story. On September 1 the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP) was implemented. This document replaces Land Use Policies for the region including Wheatland County but excluding Kneehill. This SSRP will be the framework for planning decisions for years to come.
The MGB let participants know that the MGB would be considering the SSRP when hearing submissions about this dispute. The proposed race track site borders the SSRP area in the bottom of the river valley.
At the hearing on November 18 our counsel, Hugh Ham, made an excellent submission asking the MGB to rescind the DCD Bylaw based on the environmental degradation to a shared river valley.
We await the decision of the MGB. We are hoping the decision will be released by the end of February 2015 but since delay is typically a problem for developers we are fine with the decision taking longer than that.