County council pass first reading of rezoning bylaw

Posted on May 21, 2026 by Sunny South News

By Heather Cameron
Sunny South News

During the May 7, County of Lethbridge Council meeting, County of Lethbridge brought Bylaw 26-003 to Council to potentially receive first reading.

Kaylyn Franklin, Manager of Planning and Development for Lethbridge County, stated that Bylaw 26-003 – Amendment to the Land Use Bylaw was designed to redesignate a portion of NW-4-9-20-W4M (90081 Range Road 204) from Urban Fringe (UF) to Direct Control (DC).

“The direct control that is proposed today is to accommodate an existing event center use,” explained Franklin. 

The other buildings already on site, Franklin explained, are existing short-term rentals, a tourist home, and Ag services businesses that are compatible with the event center.

The landowner, Franklin explained, has obtained permits to bring the Ag services business and the tourist home into compliance, but the event center is not currently allowed under the Rural Agricultural zoning regulations, and that is why Direct Control is being considered.

“Direct control is to allow an event center that has a 250-person capacity,” explained Franklin. “They will have to obtain safety code permits to convert the Ag building to meet code requirements for a commercial operation.”

Franklin also explained that the bylaw was circulated to the Town of Coaldale, Alberta Transportation, and other relevant agencies and Alberta Transportation did request a traffic impact assessment memorandum which has since been submitted. The traffic impact assessment , Franklin stated, identified the upgrades to Highway 512 and Range Road 204 as being warranted, but the upgrades are not attributed to this proposed development because this proposed development is creating traffic volumes on Friday, Saturday, and Sundays, which are not considered peak periods on the intersections or highway at this point, so the volumes in the proposal do not attribute to any intersection upgrades, according to the TIA. That said, Franklin also established that the report is currently under review. 

That said, Franklin stated, Administration’s recommendation is that Bylaw 26-003 receive first reading from Council.

“The reason for the recommendation is it does align with the Municipal Development Plan and is compatible with surrounding land uses,” said Franklin. “Municipal development plan policy 14.8 also does encourage a wide range of commercial land uses and economic development opportunities that allow for mixed land uses and this proposal supports that.”

Councillor Van Essen then made the motion that Bylaw 26-003 – Amendment to the Land Use Bylaw receive first reading by Council, and the motion was carried.