Leduc Council to review first draft of new Land Use Bylaw this spring

LEDUC -- The City of Leduc's new Land Use Bylaw is expected to come before Council for the first time this spring.

If passed, the bylaw will act as an official framework to guide and regulate how lands are developed across the city. According to the municipality, it aims to modernize Leduc's approach to land use, simplify regulations, and support balanced growth. At their regular meeting on Feb. 23, Council received a report from Senior Planner Jessica Lui, outlining the results of recent public consultation and laying out the next steps.

"Once the first draft of the Land Use Bylaw is complete, the next step is sharing the draft in the spring, with more engagement opportunities with the public and stakeholder groups," said Lui. "This will keep everyone informed and engaged throughout the process."

As part of their first round of consultation, members of the public along with community groups expressed what they want to see from the new mandatory document. For residents, they want to see the new bylaw prioritize housing variety, adequate on-site parking, pedestrian connections, daily amenities, and more and better maintained parks and green spaces. Councillor Bill Hamilton says there also needs to be an emphasis on protecting character neighbourhoods.

"People are afraid that they're in a well-established, older neighbourhood in Leduc, and the fear is that someone could buy the property next to them and put in a six-plex or an eight-plex," said Hamilton. "We want to make sure that we're cautious about how we talk about that."

For industry and developers, they've expressed their desire for the new bylaw to contain fewer zones and greater flexibility to respond to changing housing market conditions. They also want to see barriers to development reduced, including matters pertaining to maximum density and lot width and parking regulations. Leduc Mayor Lars Hansen says the new Land Use Bylaw needs to strike a balance.

"I know we must innovate and move in the way the market's going, but at the end of the day we're still a suburban community," said Hansen. "We like our roads, we like our automobiles, we like a little bit bigger lot size too. Balancing all those things in this new bylaw will be something that I'm looking forward to."

The first draft is expected to be shared in the spring, followed by additional engagement opportunities, including Council and stakeholder workshops and public drop-in sessions. It's then expected to come back before Council for first reading in the fall.