Landmark Planning & Design facilitating process, pubic feedback welcome
The Municipality of Bifrost-Riverton released a new zoning bylaw that combines and updates separate zoning bylaws that were passed before the two jurisdictions were amalgamated.
In 2015 the province mandated the amalgamation of the Village of Riverton and the Rural Municipality of Bifrost. Each jurisdiction had its own zoning bylaw – the Village of Riverton Zoning Bylaw No. 76-80 and the Rural Municipality of Bifrost Zoning Bylaw No. 4-2011 – which have now been combined into the 2024 zoning bylaw.
The municipality, which dropped the term “rural” from its name, hired Landmark Planning & Design to undertake the process of creating a unified bylaw and obtaining feedback from residents. Landmark held an open house last Thursday in Riverton to present a draft version of the 2024 zoning bylaw. The event attracted over a dozen people.
Landmark’s Jeff Pratte, who attended the open house, said the new zoning bylaw will not impact residents’ day-to-day use of their properties. But if someone is contemplating a new development, they would have to refer to the zoning bylaw. And zoning for agriculture is “tied directly” to the province’s regulations. So most of the changes in the new bylaw pertain to simplifying and modernizing the old bylaws.
“When we review a bylaw, the goal isn’t to make wholesale changes per se. We want to make sure everything is in line with current regulations. We also work with the municipality to identify any reoccurring issues in the municipality, things that people are always seeking variances for,” said Pratte. “People [at the open house] were inquiring about certain kinds of developments the bylaw didn’t allow for, so we helped people get a sense of the changes that might need to be made. But the intent isn’t to change things for the sake of change.”
According to the provincial government’s guide to zoning bylaws, a zoning bylaw is essentially a set of rules for land use and development. It implements the objectives and policies that are found in a development plan, which describes how and where land will be developed. Zoning bylaws must conform with a development plan.
Titled Municipality of Bifrost-Riverton Zoning Bylaw: A Law to Regulate and Control the Use and Development of Land and Buildings, the yet-to-be-numbered new bylaw addresses land use issues that include standards for natural, agricultural, rural, residential and business zones, public reserve lands, developments along lakes, the protection of groundwater, tiny home clusters, parking lots, signage, home businesses, guest houses, wind or solar farms, road allowances, communication towers and land unsuited for development.
Pratte said there were no serious concerns raised about the new bylaw at the open house.
“Some of the people who showed up to the open house are engaged in development and they were inquiring as to the specifics about commercial zones and residential rezoning,” said Pratte. “There were was a very informative exchange. No one had any real issues that I noted. There were some requests from people saying that they would like to try to do something in the municipality and wanted to make sure that the draft bylaw would speak to that.”
The impetus for a new zoning bylaw stemmed from a development plan – the Eastern Interlake Planning District Development Plan – that was adopted in 2022, said Pratte.
“Any time you have a new development plan, you’re supposed to update your zoning bylaw. The two [bylaws] needed to be updated anyway, but the development plan definitely provided the impetus for Bifrost-Riverton to start the process,” said Pratte.
The municipality put out a request for proposals to update and combine its two zoning bylaws and different planning companies would have submitted a proposal and a price quote to undertake the work. Landmark, which is based in Winnipeg, is seen as a “leader in putting together zoning bylaws for municipalities,” said Pratte. The company has worked with municipalities across Manitoba.
Landmark staff have been working closely with the municipality’s administration and council for several months. With the draft bylaw now released – it’s posted on Bifrost-Riverton’s website – the company will continue to gather feedback from the public and enter into an “approval process” in the fall.
“We’re going to go through all the comment sheets and make presentation boards available on Landmark’s website (under the projects tab). There will also be a comment form people can complete,” said Pratte. “Come autumn, we will schedule and advertise a public hearing for the bylaw and people can come and speak in support or objection to it. And that’s when council will make the decision as to whether or not they will approve the bylaw or ask for changes.”
In the meantime, Pratte said people are free to contact Landmark with any concerns about the draft bylaw. Those concerns will be passed on the municipality. Residents can also contact their municipal councillor or the RM office if they prefer, but for the sake of efficiency, it may be best to contact Landmark.
“By no means is this bylaw a done deal at this point; this is a draft and people can engage in the process and register their thoughts on it,” he said.
Contact Landmark Planning & Design at (204) 453-8008 or email: RSVP@landmarkplanning.ca with a subject line: Bifrost-Riverton Zoning Bylaw (ZBL).
