City of Cranbrook council Sept. 14 approved a small municipal boundary extension proposal in the south of the city for consideration of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The proposal is a return to a 17th Street South expansion proposal council dealt with last year, but smaller in scale.

Before voting to approve, council had to rescind Boundary Expansion resolution 285-19.

It then voted to approve the proposed amended 4.8 ha, three parcel boundary expansion proposal as shown on the map above.

With the approval city staff is authorized to develop, sign and submit the proposal to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

A Development Services report explained the city received a request by the owners of Lot 5, District Lot 3911, Kootenay District Plan 6277 for a municipal boundary extension to include their two ha (five ac) property into the City of Cranbrook.

“The owners of Lot 5, Noel Oslund and Corinne Merchant, have stated that their intentions are to develop the parcel and are considering two options: 1. mirror the subdivision directly across from them (18+/- lots), or 2. Subdivide five – one acre lots. On August 26, staff received a call from the owner of 1611 17th St. S (neighbour of Mr. Oslund) confirming they now wish to have their property included in their proposal.”

Further to council’s original consideration of a proposed boundary expansion in October 2019, city staff conducted required consultation with the landowners in the proposed expansion area to gather their views on being included in a proposal to expand the municipal boundary to include their lands.

“Consultation results indicated that only two of the 18 properties supported to be included in the application. Given the results and in consideration of the provincial guidelines that generally requires majority of the landowners to want to participate, planning staff has had multiple discussions with staff at the Provincial Ministry to look at potential options to pursue an alternative proposal.

“A revised proposal was drawn-up to include only those properties wishing to come into the city and the intervening roads and submitted to province for feedback. Provincial staff indicated while not conventional, staff did not have any major concerns in principle with the proposed approach. The ministry has also referred the proposal to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure but at the time of writing this report, comments had not been received,” the city report said.

Given the feedback from ministry staff and the landowners’ continued willingness to be included into the city, staff prepared a revised final proposal for council’s consideration to move forward with rather than the original proposal, the report explained.

The new proposal includes three parcels and approximately 654 metres of roads for which the city will assume responsibility

“It is noted that the proposal does include the 15th Avenue South cul-de-sac but not the properties. This was done to try and meet the provincial guidelines to include all the intervening roads in the proposal, but will mean the city will have ownership and maintenance responsibility for a road where the homes do not contribute to the tax base.”

In order to proceed, a resolution of support to move forward with proposal development from council must be adopted and additional work is required in order to meet the provincial submission requirements for their initial consideration.

“City staff will conduct the required intergovernmental consultation (RDEK, First Nations, MOTI) and have their comments included before the city can submit a package to the provincial ministry for initial consideration.”

Council was not unanimous in providing support for the proposal, with Coun. Norma Blissett voting against it.

“We’re going to leave an island of land outside the city surrounded by the city,” she said, noting it isn’t a good precedent for the city’s future.

City planner Rob Veg said the proposal will eventually have to go before the provincial cabinet for approval.

City of Cranbrook Map

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