Municipal Issues for the Rural Municipality of Three Lakes No. 400

A number of concerns and issues affecting the use of lakes, their shorelands and the surrounding area as well as recommendations for appropriate levels of lakeshore development have been discussed by Council. These concerns, issues and recommendations were identified through a review of the current land uses and development patterns of the municipality. Comments and suggestions should also be obtained from landowners, government agencies and interest groups.

The lakeshore management issues identified by Council include:

Recreational Land Use:

to be sustainable, the RM’s recreation resources should be ensured through environmental protection of the lakes and shorelands;

lakeshore development should occur in a manner and at locations which are compatible with the local environment;

benefits should be maximized and costs should be minimized to the municipality resulting from recreation activities (including seasonal residential) ;

safe and healthy water-based recreation should be maintained;

land use and access conflicts and incompatibilities should be minimized;

disturbance of fisheries habitat, critical wildlife habitat, hazard lands and other environmentally sensitive areas should be avoided; and

disturbance of heritage sensitive areas should be avoided.

Other municipal management concerns and issues which relate to the entire Rural Municipality of Three Lakes No. 400 include, but are not limited to:

Source Water Protection:

the need to protect existing and potential future sources of potable water from contamination due to threats from incompatible land uses; and

acting to ensure coordination between the three levels of government to implement Source Water Protection;

Agricultural Land Use:

protecting agricultural lands and existing farm units from incompatible uses to ensure the continuing viability of the agricultural industry within the municipality;

any Council decision to approve sites for intensive agricultural uses (Intensive Livestock Operations) should occur only at appropriate locations where land use conflict will not occur with nearby residential uses (e.g. by using separation distances between ILOs and residential uses);

assisting in the diversification of the agricultural economy;

encouraging and assisting in the conservation and sustainable use of soil and water resources; and

allowing and directing industrial, commercial and clustered residential developments primarily to locate only on marginal agricultural lands.

Land Subdivision:

the need to establish minimum agricultural holding lot sizes for rural areas and also the establishment of minimum rural residential lot sizes to reflect the possible demand for single parcel country residential development;

Country Residential Land Use:

allowing only a limited number of lots for rural residential development;

the economical provision of roads, and where possible, rural water pipelines to small clusters of rural residential lots must be considered;

ensure that the regulation of non-farm enterprises on the farm should assist in avoiding future land use conflict; and

creating appropriate locational and development standards for rural residential development.

Other Residential Land Uses:

new residential land use developments will be encouraged to locate within existing urban centers or appropriately–sited (e. g. not floodprone) lakeshore and seasonal residential developments; and

random, unplanned residential development will not be encouraged in order to avoid premature development, achieve efficient municipal servicing and to protect the environment.

Environmentally Sensitive Areas and Hazard Lands:

the protection, preservation, enhancement and/or management of environmentally sensitive areas and hazard lands is important;

compliance is also required with provincial and federal land use regulations and policies; and

site selection for new types of land uses must avoid, or at least minimize the threat of injury and/or loss of life, property damage, economic and social disruption from physical hazards such as flooding, erosion or slope instability.

Heritage Sensitive Areas:

the preservation, protection and management of the municipality’s heritage resources is important to the RM. Where the location of such resources are now known, (or may be identified in future) they will be identified on one or more of the Maps which form part of this Plan.

Highway Commercial and Light Industrial Use:

highway commercial and light industrial developments should be planned and coordinated; and

these types of commercial and industrial developments should avoid premature development, minimize conflicts with other land uses, ensure environmental protection and achieve efficient, cost-effective municipal servicing (e. g. not lead to excessive road repairs or maintenance without prior agreements being signed with prospective Developers to deal with such costs).

Transportation and Utility Corridors:

road developments should minimize transportation safety hazards for people and goods, and compliment the municipality’s land use policies;

any new roads required for a proposed development must be built to RM standards at the developer’s cost; and

wherever possible, the grouping of utility corridors should be encouraged.