Notification of Public Hearings
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association request that the Government of Alberta amend the Municipal Government Act to allow that the obligation under subsection 606(2)(a), which outlines that the Notice must be published at least once a week for two consecutive weeks, may be met by publication of the Notice in more than one newspaper, if this is in accordance with the subsection when the publications are considered together and/or any other manner considered appropriate by the municipality.
WHEREAS it is beneficial to make a published Notification of a Public Hearing accessible to as many residents as possible, in as cost-efficient a manner as possible for each municipality;
WHEREAS many small or rural Alberta communities do not have access to local weekly newspaper publications;
WHEREAS many small or rural Alberta communities do have one or more newspaper publications which have other than weekly publication dates;
WHEREAS many small or rural Alberta municipalities would struggle with the burden of the cost of handdelivery of Notices of Public Hearing;
WHEREAS many small or rural Alberta municipalities retain Post Office Box mail delivery instead of residential mail delivery;
WHEREAS the Alberta Municipal Government Act does not permit a combination of newspaper publications to meet the publishing requirements to notify residents of a Public Hearing; and
WHEREAS the Government of British Columbia under the Community Charter, Division 4, section 94 allows for combinations of more than one newspaper publication to be used to meet the required number of consecutive publications to notify residents of a public hearing.
Apr 13, 2011 - Alberta Municipal Affairs
Municipal Affairs recognizes the changing needs of Alberta municipalities and understands that the current public notification process outlined in Section 606 of the MGA may provide challenges to some municipalities.
Priority Initiative 1.4 under Goal 1 of the Municipal Affairs Business Plan 2011-14 states that a staged comprehensive review of the MGA is to take place. In this regard, a review of the MGA will be proceeding in this business cycle, and ministry staff will continue the planning, data collection, research, and analysis work that are necessary to ensure that this act continues to remain a model for Canada’s provinces and territories. I expect the MGA review will occur over a number of years (five to six), due to the comprehensive nature of this act.
The ministry will consult with our stakeholders on this comprehensive review.
AUMA considers this response.