Municipal Bylaws

Bylaws are laws made by the council of a municipality. A municipality in Alberta is a city, town, village, summer village, municipal district such as a county, or a specialized municipality incorporating an urban and a rural area such as Sherwood Park.

 

The Municipal Government Act gives councils the power to pass bylaws relating to certain areas such as:

 

 

• the safety, health, and welfare of people and the protection of people and property;
• nuisances- including unsightly property;
• public utilities;
• and transport and transportation systems. 

Councils are also permitted to create offences for people who break bylaws. The punishment for the offences can be up to $10,000 in fines or imprisonment for up to one year. Other penalties can also be imposed, such as fees and charges. Typical bylaws concern such matters as smoking, parking, animal control, licensing and zoning. Larger municipalities will have more bylaws in place and the bylaws can often be viewed on the municipal web site. If bylaws of a municipality are not available on a web site, the City Clerks office of the municipality will have full details of all current bylaws.

 

 

Municipalities enforce their bylaws through their own investigations and by acting upon complaints from the public. An offence that is contained within a bylaw is called a quasi criminal offence as it is not a criminal offence in the same category as assault or theft. It is nevertheless an offence for which a person can be prosecuted in court and be fined or imprisoned.

A bylaw is only enforceable within the jurisdiction or area that the municipality covers.  There are different bylaws in different municipalities.

To see if your municipality has bylaws available online go to the Government of Alberta site for the Department of Municipal Affairs (http://www.municipalaffairs.gov.ab.ca/).

When reading a bylaw look out for who is liable for punishment for breach of the bylaw. For example, with regard to rented property, is it the person who commits the offence or the owner of the property.

October 2011