Alberta county wants acreage residents’ opinions on what they consider unsightly to help design landowner use rules
An Alberta county wants to know if shipping containers and plastic covered shelters should be allowed on farms, acreages and lake communities.
It is just one of the questions Cam-rose County is asking its residents as part of a land use bylaw and municipal development plan review.
“In the eyes of some people, they are not appropriate for an acreage setting,” said reeve Don Gregorwich.
Complaints about unsightly farmyards and acreages will fall on deaf ears without rules and guidelines for county officials to follow.
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“If you don’t have rules set in law, then landowners can tell you that you are infringing on their personal freedom,” Gregorwich said.
“We’re not trying to be overzealous. We just need some direction. We want an idea of what our residents think about this.”
The survey is part of a review of the county’s land use bylaws and municipal development plan to guide future county development.
In the last five years, shipping containers and inexpensive plastic sheds have popped up on prairie farmyards like mushrooms after a rain.
Gregorwich said officials can do little to restrict the buildings’ spread without a land use bylaw regulating their size, height and location.
“You have to have a standard to make a decision,” he said.
Land use regulations already create double standards. An auto wrecking business in the county must be hidden behind fences and away from the road, while a farmyard can have hundreds of wrecked cars and old tractors within view of the road.
“Some farmyards have 20 acres of good farmland filled with old equipment with grass growing around them and trees growing through them,” he said. “Never will the equipment be used again.”
Gregorwich recently hired a scrap metal dealer to haul away an old drill parked in the bush.
“We do see signs of change. Some of the scrap metal guys are reclaiming some of the old yard sites.”
Gregorwich said some people have suggested that clean yards should be rewarded with lower taxes.
“That is an interesting suggestion, but I am not sure how practical it would be.”
