Planning Issues

Any owner of property needs to be aware of some basic principles of planning law. Some extra considerations may apply when property is rented out.

The Municipal Government Act sets out some general planning principles and requires every  municipality  to pass a  land use bylaw. A land use bylaw describes in detail permitted and discretionary land uses for every area within a municipality. For example an area might be described or zoned as one of various classes of residential, industrial, commercial, or public use. Within each category there can be further detailed requirements relating to matters such as the type of housing, commercial or industrial activity possible, the height of buildings, the size of buildings, separation distances between buildings, height of fences, and amenity spaces to be provided in apartment buildings.

You can find out what requirements apply to your property by looking at your local land use bylaw. Some municipalities will include the bylaw on their web site. Cities like Edmonton and Calgary have detailed land use bylaws. Alternatively, the Clerks Office of your municipality or the Planning Department will be able to help you out.

To see if your municipality has a land use bylaw on their website search the Alberta Municipal Affairs site at (http://www.municipalaffairs.gov.ab.ca/) and search under Municipal Profiles.