Calgary Regional Partnership: Nenshi calls out Rocky View reeve on bid to slash funding
CBC News | Posted: February 20, 2015 3:20 PM | Last Updated: February 20, 2015
Calgary mayor says county is overreaching in attempt to get province to cut funds
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and the head of Rocky View County are battling over future development of the city and the areas around it.
Reeve Margaret Bahcheli sent a letter to Municipal Affairs Minister Diana McQueen asking her to cancel the $3-million budget for the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP).
“To be frank, the CRP’s request seems to be a solution desperately in search of a problem,” she wrote to the minister.
Rocky View County, which wraps around northern Calgary, ended its membership in the CRP in 2009 after disagreements about its voting structure.
The county is opposed to the CRP becoming legislated as a planning body.
The CRP was responsible for the development of the Calgary Metropolitan Plan (CMP), which lays out regional strategies for services such as water, wastewater and transit and for managing issues of growth density.
Nenshi says he is not surprised by the county’s attempt to clip the CRP’s wings.
“Once again, Rocky View County has overreached because, of course, the Calgary Regional Partnership is not just about Rocky View County. Lots of stuff happens, sorry, that has very little to do with Rocky View County,” he said.
“But as we've seen from the citizens in Rocky View County … the county itself is not doing a very good job of preserving agricultural or ranching land. It's not doing a particularly good job of planning growth in an orderly, integrated fashion.”
The county feels that the goals of the CMP can be implemented by communities working together instead of through a separate body.
“Rocky View County recognizes the need for sound regional planning, but we believe the existing statutory mechanisms, coupled with the county’s commitment to co-operation, consultation and collaboration, negate any need for the additional layer of bureaucracy created by legislating the Calgary Metropolitan Plan,” Bahcheli wrote to the minister.