In March 2024, Council passed an updated Off-Site Levy Bylaw. The updated bylaw aims to ensures that Town is collecting the correct amount of funds from the development industry to cover the costs of new infrastructure. Without the update, those costs fall to existing ratepayers to cover.

In passing the bylaw, Council spoke to the fact that they believe it achieved a fair and transparent model to ensure that new growth pays for itself, without passing those costs on to existing ratepayers

BOWDA challenged the bylaw with the Land and Property Rights Tribunal (LPRT). The LPRT released their decision today and declared the OSL bylaw invalid, largely for non-disclosure of the model used to calculate the levy rates. This model is a proprietary model from a third-party company that we had an obligation to protect under contract.  We did offer to share the model with BOWDA leading up to the LPRT hearing, but the finding indicates that we had to do that before the bylaw was approved.  Over 40 municipalities in Alberta use the same third-party company for their offsite levies, so this decision will have significant implications for many other municipalities and the third-party company.

During the LPRT hearing, errors in the Town’s bylaw were found, which we acknowledged and committed to updating once the LPRT decision was rendered. The decision also included a number of areas where the BOWDA was looking for a decision or direction to the Town that the Tribunal declined to give.

We will spend some time reading and fully understanding the decision and then get to work updating the bylaw as needed.  The 2024 bylaw is still valid for a period of four months, allowing us time to revisit the issues cited in the decision and make a new bylaw.

“We are disappointed with the decision released today from the Land and Property Rights Tribunal declaring our Off-Site Levy Bylaw invalid and believe this decision may have farther reaching impacts on other mid-sized municipalities across Alberta who use the same model to create their bylaws. We are committed to getting a new bylaw passed in the near future that fully meets the requirements outlined in the decision.” Mayor Sean Krausert

What is an off-site levy bylaw?
An off-site levy bylaw is a regulation that allows municipalities to collect fees from developers to fund infrastructure improvements needed to support new developments. Off-Site Levies support things such as roads, water and wastewater systems, and community amenities like recreation centres and fire halls.