Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) adoption deadline approaching

April 1, 2020 will be here before you know it, which means your municipality must have an Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework adopted and in place in less than five months.

When the modernized Municipal Government Act (MGA) was proclaimed on October 26, 2017, several amendments were implemented to address and promote a more integrated and strategic approach to intermunicipal land-use planning and service delivery for Alberta municipalities.

All municipalities that share a common boundary must create an ICF. More than two municipalities can enter into an ICF together, and municipalities that do not share a common boundary can voluntarily choose to enter into an ICF.

As per s.708.29 of the MGA, your ICF must include an inventory of all services provided by each municipality, shared between municipalities on an intermunicipal basis, and provided by a third party. Your ICF must also address services related to transportation, water and wastewater, solid waste, emergency services, recreation and any other services that benefit residents in more than one of the municipalities that are a party to the ICF.

The ICF development process is also a good opportunity to discuss other items with your neighbours, such as land-use planning, economic development, environmental protection, agricultural preservation and climate resiliency.

Your ICF will need to be accompanied by an Intermunicipal Development Plan (IDP) before it will be accepted by the province. The IDP and ICF share many required components, therefore these two processes should be considered together.

This article, along with five more to follow, will provide a review of the steps needed to enter into an ICF. AUMA will reach out to municipalities to collect information on their experiences thus far with developing ICFs.

If you have questions, or wish to discuss ICFs in more depth, please reach out to advocacy [at] auma.ca (advocacy[at]auma[dot]ca) or ICFSubmissions [at] gov.ab.ca (ICFSubmissions[at]gov[dot]ab[dot]ca). Additionally, the Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework Workbook is a resource currently available to members on the AUMA website.