Richard Froese
South Peace News

Steps to create a government required inter-municipal development plan for Big Lakes County and the Town of High Prairie will start to take shape.

At its regular meeting July 25, county council awarded a contract to Green Space Alliance Consulting (GSA) in the amount of $49,100.

An international company, the GSA was the lowest of three bids, as the county also received tenders of $68,000 and $73,224, states a report from Pat Olansky, director of planning and development, who recommended the action.

“The firm can complete the project for the lowest cost and are experienced in preparing statutory planning documents including IDPs,” Olansky states.

She says the county has filed an exemption for the Town of Swan Hills.

“Swan Hills is all surrounded by Crown land,” Reeve Ken Matthews says.

The Big Lakes and High Prairie IDP committee met on July 9 to review the proposals, Olansky reports.

Under the new Municipal Government Act, municipalities are required to complete IDPs with adjacent municipalities by 2020, which will form part of the inter-municipal collaboration framework for Big Lakes and High Prairie.

Big Lakes is also required to complete IDP with municipalities such as the M.D. of Smoky River around Falher, the M.D. of Greenview around Valleyview and the M.D. of Lesser Slave River around Slave Lake and other rural municipalities around the Town of Peace River.