City seeking resident’s input on Land Use Bylaw renewal project

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on February 11, 2025.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The City of Lethbridge is inviting residents to make their voices heard in regard to the Land Use Bylaw (LUB) Renewal Project during an open house today at the Galt Museum.
Ross Kilgour, project manager and community planner with the City, told reporters Monday afternoon that members of the community are welcomed to join the city from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Galt Museum to hear about Phase 2 of the project.
“Phase 2 is what we’re doing right now. We’re looking at all kinds of topics to do with development in the city. So, anything from downtown to housing, commercial, industrial development, parking requirements, you name it,” said Kilgour.
He said this is an opportunity for residents to have a say on how Lethbridge should be developed in the future.
Kilgour said it is very important for them to hear feedback from residents on what they like about how Lethbridge is built today and if there are things they would like to change for the future.
“Would you like more small neighborhood grocery stores, more coffee shops nearby that you can walk to? Would you like more different types of housing all over the city that you can move into maybe as you age, or as your kids move out and become students and want to buy homes of their own?” said Kilgour.
He added that they also would like to know what kind of things residents would like to see being built in the future. But if it is not possible to attend in person at the open house, they do have a survey going on that people can access at http://www.getinvolvedlethbridge.ca/LUB and will remain open until Feb. 18.
When talking about what type of feedback they have received from residents already, Kilgour said probably the biggest issue they are hearing about right now is housing affordability.
“We know that’s becoming an increasing problem in Lethbridge, is not just a big city problem anymore. We’re seeing that we are more expensive to rent in than Edmonton in some cases,” said Kilgour.
He said this is something that has surprised many residents and many have been asking the city for more homes to be built, to help increase the supply of available places to rent or buy to deal with the increasing demand for affordable housing.
“We want to make sure that the new land use bylaw is really user friendly, that is meeting people’s needs. What we hear right now is that the current one is kind of hard for most people to use,” said Kilgour.
He said they have been hearing from people that the LUB right now has too many confusing requirements and that many are unsure if they apply to them, so they want to make sure they fix that as well.
“We would like a more user friendly, more flexible land use bylaw in the future that helps with economic development, that helps people to make smaller changes to their own homes and so on,” said Kilgour.
He added, this is why it is important for residents to attend and have conversations with the city, so they become aware of the issues that need to be resolved, along with feedback on how they would like the city to develop in the future.
“One of the potential changes could be things like secondary suites, where those are allowed for, where they’re not allowed, what the requirements are. So, certainly that’s something we can look at if people are interested in,” said Kilgour.
In terms of how residents would utilize the LUB, Kilgour said it depends if it is for commercial or residential purposes.
“For most people, they might interact with the land use bylaw if they’re doing some sort of small development within their own home, so it might be something as small as an addition, or a garage that they’re building,” said Kilgour.
As for businesses, added Kilgour, they might have a lot more interaction with it. He said business owners might need to change the use of a commercial property, so they must apply for a change of use permit.
“Or they might even be doing a rezoning, where you have to go to a public hearing with council. So, all these types of things. Are established in the land use bylaw. All of our land use districts called zones, those are all established in the land use district,” said Kilgour.
He said this is a big project, something that is changing the Land Use Bylaw, which has not changed in nearly 40 years.
“We’ll be creating an entirely new land use bylaw, so that it gives us a chance to look at everything from a fresh start. Are the zones of today working? Are there opportunities for consolidating some of those, making things a little more user friendly and flexible for business,” said Kilgour.
He said basically at this stage of the project everything is on the table. And that is why they want to have those big conversations with people right now, before they start narrowing down the options later in the project.
“The current phase will be running from now until June. We’ll be doing a whole bunch of engagement in that time,” said Kilgour.
He said they will be engaging with the public in multiple ways. From online surveys, to in person workshops, pop-up engagement where they go to the community and meet people.
“And then after June we’ll take all of that feedback, bring it back to council and get some direction in terms of what’s actually right into the new land use bylaw,” said Kilgour. “Once the new land use bylaw is written, about a year and a half from now, we’ll bring that back out to the public to take a look at and give us some more feedback on that before we think about finalizing it.”

3
-2