JASPER – The municipality has identified "belonging, connection, nature, responsible, thriving and inclusive" as community values that will guide the creation of the town plan in 2026.
On Tuesday (June 10), committee of the whole recommended that council receive the values as information and direct administration to incorporate them into Jasper’s town plan.
“The words are from the community of Jasper,” said Beth Sanders, director of urban design and standards. “The purpose of them is going to be to create and craft the town plan around the words, so they will be the spine or the structure for that.”
To assume land-use authority from Parks Canada, the municipality will need to create a community plan under the Canada National Parks Act and a municipal development plan under Alberta’s Municipal Government Act (MGA).
Sanders said the town plan will fulfill both requirements.
Over the spring, community engagement took place regarding the community values and proposed policy changes to Jasper’s land-use policy, and six values were identified.
“Belonging,” for example, includes the aspirations for Jasper to have affordable housing, a good quality of life, resident retention and an adequate supply of housing.
Town planner Isla Tanaka explained this value had been “stability,” but administration heard in May that the term didn’t resonate with residents.
“But so far, ‘belonging’ seems to better reflect that Jasper is a welcoming community with affordable housing options and rewarding employment opportunities for all residents,” Tanaka said.
Mayor Richard Ireland said a values-based approach was important for formulating the town plan in the future, but he wanted more of an emphasis on the importance of the visitor economy.
“I can understand from a resident’s point of view [that they] look at the town plan as a plan for residents, but all of our residents benefit in one way, directly or indirectly, from our visitor economy, and somewhere I think that should be reflected in one of the values,” Ireland said.
Coun. Rico Damota suggested linking up with Tourism Jasper’s Destination Stewardship Plan, and Coun. Ralph Melnyk noted that the visitor economy may fall under “thriving.”
Coun. Kathleen Waxer also suggested that “building for developing good relationships” should be included for “responsible” to help around partnerships as well as truth and reconciliation.
Sanders said these words would serve as a point of direction, and administration would incorporate council’s feedback.
“And as the project moves along in 2026, we’ll identify specific policy directions that will flesh out what each of these mean where some of the missing ideas might come to fruition,” she added.
A detailed breakdown of the values can be found in council’s agenda.
Practice public hearing
The municipality is scheduling a practice public hearing on land-use policy amendments to increase residential density.
The hearing will take place on Tuesday (June 17) during council’s regular meeting at 1:30 p.m.
Sanders said this gave council, administration and the community a chance to practice conducting a public hearing as if the municipality had land-use authority under the MGA.
“As we’re growing our sea legs and taking on this authority over time, we have engaged as a municipality and our administration … the public on residential density and parking, recognizing that we have a housing situation in Jasper,” Sanders said.
Under the MGA, public hearings are required each time a change is considered to a land-use bylaw. It allows council to receive the results of community engagement, hear directly from administration about a proposed course of action and hear directly from residents.
Residents can either attend in person, with or without notice, or submit written feedback such as a letter or email.
Council has the authority to recess the meeting until a future date, but cannot receive further information from the public once the meeting is closed.
Sanders clarified that a one-week notice was not typically proper, but the municipality had already put out the notice before coming to council, and it did not need to adhere to the MGA since it was a practice public hearing.
While Parks Canada still holds land-use authority, council will be able to make recommendations that will be forwarded to the superintendent.
The recommended policy changes include, but aren’t limited to, combining similar residential districts, creating general policies for accessory buildings, permitting garden and garage suites in more residential districts and allowing multi-unit dwellings in more residential districts.
Parks Canada already updated the land-use policy last fall to simplify the rebuilding process.
