The Alberta Land Stewardship Act (ALSA) was proclaimed
on September 1, 2009. The ALSA is part of the Land-Use Framework
(LUF), the Government of Alberta's initiative to transform
Alberta's approach to land-use planning.
The land-use framework
The LUF was finalized in December 2008 after two years of
consultation with representatives of the public, municipalities,
Aboriginal peoples, industry and environmental groups. Directed at
managing growth in a way that balances economic, social and
environmental interests in public and private lands, the LUF
provides a blueprint for land-use management and decision-making
within Alberta. Specifically, the LUF incorporates seven strategies
to improve land-use decision-making:
- development of seven regional land-use plans based on new
integrated planning regions that are congruent with Alberta's
major watersheds;
- creation of a Land-Use Secretariat to support the
implementation of the LUF and creation of Regional Advisory
Councils (RACs) for each land-use region;
- use of cumulative effects management on a regional basis to
manage the impacts of development on land, water and air;
- development of policy instruments to encourage stewardship and
conservation of public goods;
- promotion of efficient use of land;
- establishment of an information and monitoring system to ensure
that the outcomes of the LUF are being met; and
- inclusion of Aboriginal peoples in land-use planning.
Regional plans
The Alberta Government is developing, with input from the
public, stakeholders and Aboriginal communities and advice from the
RACs, seven regional land-use plans covering all of Alberta. The
regional plans will be the key documents in terms of future
planning for each of the seven regions. When the regional plans are
made effective, all decisions involving land-use (including all
project development decisions) must be consistent with the
provincial policies and directions set out in the regional plans.
The ALSA provides that the regional plans will be binding on all
persons in Alberta, including the Crown, municipal governments and
decision-making boards. While regional plans will be enforced, for
the most part, by existing mechanisms, the regional plans may
contain penalty and enforcement provisions in order to ensure
compliance with their terms.
The Government of Alberta has indicated that regional plans will
contain a regional profile, the policy context for the plan, a
regional vision statement, objectives and goals, strategies,
actions and approaches, and monitoring and reporting. Regional
plans are intended to paint a picture of how a region should look
over several decades as well as desired outcomes for the region,
with a planning horizon of up to 50 years. Regional plans will be
designed to be effective for a five to 10 year period, after which
they will be reviewed and updated as needed to address the
realities of the day.
The newly established Land Use Secretariat is charged with leading
the development of the regional plans, monitoring and reporting on
the planning process for the plans and will also be involved in the
development of all regulations associated with the plans under the
ALSA.
Conservation tools
The ALSA also provides for a number of conservation and
stewardship tools:
- Conservation Easements - easements that can be
registered on title and voluntarily granted by a registered
landowner to qualified organizations in order to protect land for
some environmental or agricultural purpose.
- Conservation Directives - may be implemented by
Cabinet in regional plans for the purpose of protecting some
environmental or natural aspect of land. Upon doing so, Cabinet is
required to provide the registered landowner with notice of the
conservation directive and the landowner can seek compensation from
the Government of Alberta.
- Stewardship Units - an environmental offset market for
stewardship units may be implemented, which could involve
marketable, bankable credits representing an environmentally
positive action.
- Conservation Offset Programs - regulations under the
ALSA may be implemented that would require project developers to
counterbalance the environmental impacts of their activities by
taking environmentally protective steps (such as purchasing
stewardship units or arranging for the establishment of
conservation easements on other lands).
- Transfer Development Credit Schemes - may be implemented in order to direct development away from ecological areas.
The impact of the ALSA
To support and ensure compliance with the regional plans,
consequential amendments were made to more than 25 pieces of
legislation as a result of the ALSA. Examples of amended provincial
legislation that may be of particular interest to industry include
the Municipal Government Act, the Public Lands
Act, the Energy Resources and Conservation Act, the
Mines and Minerals Act and the Water Act.
The regional plans may expressly affect, amend or extinguish
statutory consents or the terms or conditions of any statutory
consent. Statutory consents under the ALSA include permits,
licenses, registrations, approvals, authorizations, dispositions,
certificates, allocations, agreements or instruments issued under
or authorized by an enactment or regulatory instrument. To the
extent that a regional plan under the ALSA affects any holders of
statutory consents, those holders will be given reasonable notice
and an opportunity to propose alternate means of achieving or
maintaining the goals or objectives of the regional plan without
altering the statutory consent in question.
Next steps
The Alberta government intends to have all seven regional plans
completed by the end of 2012. At present, RACs have been
established for the South Saskatchewan and the Lower Athabasca
regions and have begun the process of developing their
recommendations regarding those regional plans, including public
consultations. The Government intends to have those regional plans
developed by 2010. The Lower Athabasca region includes the
Athabasca and Cold Lake oil sands areas, while the South
Saskatchewan region includes Calgary and much of southern Alberta.
The Government has also released Terms of Reference for the
Lower Athabasca Region, in which the Government has provided
the Lower Athabasca RAC with some policy guidance in terms of its
recommendations for that region.
The Land Use Secretariat has begun work on applicable regulations
for the ALSA, including a regulation which will govern the public
consultation process for development of the regional plans.
Given the significant potential impacts of regional plans, industry
stakeholders may wish to become involved in the consultation
processes for the regional plans in their regions and the
regulatory framework in relation to those plans.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
