Richard Froese
South Peace News
Big Lakes County has redistricted agriculture property southeast of Kinuso to country residential after a quiet public hearing.
At its regular meeting July 9, council gave second and third (final) reading to amend Land-Use Bylaw 08-2025.
Big Lakes received an application from Jon Miersma, of Highland Surveys, on behalf of landowners Howard and Melinda Tanghe, to amend the land-use bylaw by redistricting three acres within NE 4-73-9-W5 southeast of Kinuso to country residential (CR) from agriculture (AG), Pat Olansky, director of community services and planning, told council.
No comments about the land-use proposal were received from adjacent landowners nor Alberta Forestry and Parks, Olansky stated in a report.
No citizens attended the public hearing.
“The applicant concurrently applied to subdivide the three-acre parcel which contains a dwelling and shed,” Olansky added.
In accordance with the land-use bylaw, the minimum parcel area of a subdivision in the AG district is 16.2 hectares (40 acres).
Section 3.5 (a) of the Municipal Development Plan limits the subdivision of agricultural land to a maximum of one parcel out of an unsubdivided quarter section.
“There is an existing subdivision on this quarter section that remained in the AG district, so it is necessary to redistrict the proposed parcel to the CR district,” Olansky said.
Lot requirements in the CR district are a minimum of 1.2 hectares (three acres) and maximum of four hectares (10 acres) with a minimum lot width of 30 metres (98 feet).
The proposed subdivision is 1.22 hectares (3.01 acres) with a width of 128 metres.
“The purpose of the country residential district is to provide for traditional country residential living on rural lands in a manner that does not detract from the character of the surrounding agricultural community,” Olansky said.