WHEREAS Municipalities have historically controlled development within their jurisdiction; AND WHEREAS the Department of Community Development is considering creating recreational corridors; AND WHEREAS doing so would effectively remove the right of municipalities to control the trail development;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the AAMDC should lobby the province to leave the matter of whether recreational corridors are allowed to the local municipal development processes.

This initiative is largely related to trail development and more specifically the development of the TransCanada Trail system. The issue here is not whether the trails are allowed or not, but rather the right of municipalities to control development within their jurisdictions. If a municipality wants trail development they can approve them with or without public input, and then allow proper appeals to gauge public reaction to the projects. By having the province designate corridors, public input would be essentially removed from the process creating a special class of development. This then begs the question what other interest groups will lobby the government to exempt their projects from the municipal development process.

The AAMDC has no resolutions currently in effect with respect to this issue.

The Government of Alberta has reassured municipal representatives, both privately and publicly, that municipal powers under the Municipal Government Act will not be subverted regarding recreation trails. The MGA empowers municipalities to determine where trails can occur and under what circumstances on all lands administered by the municipality. The implementation of the Land Use Framework Regional Plans, the Integrated Land Use Management initiative and the Cumulative Effects Management Framework may have an impact on the intent of this resolution. The AAMDC will continue to monitor these initiatives and advocate municipal interests and priorities.