LC Road closure bylaw off to Transportation Minister

Posted on August 17, 2023 by Sunny South News

By Nikki Jamieson
Sunny South News

Ministerial approval is now being sought for a Lethbridge County road closure bylaw.

Bylaw 23-019 would see the closure, sale and consolidation of a portion of Township Road 10-0 east of Range Road 23-3. In a cover letter for the road closure application, the applicant said that they are the landowners on either side of the road allowance, which is an extension of Township Road 10-0. They do not see a need to develop a road on the road allowance, and closing that portion would allow them to repurpose the land into productive farmland and make accessing their land on the north side of the road allowance easier.

First reading of the bylaw was performed during council’s regular July 6 meeting. A public hearing for a road closure bylaw was held during Lethbridge County council’s regular Aug. 3 meeting.

“It has been determined that this road is no longer required as part of the County road network and the road closure does not impact any other landowners,” said Hillary Janzen, supervisor of planning and development for the County.

Janzen said if the bylaw is approved, the land would be consolidated into the adjacent properties, and all the titles would be consolidated together. Alberta Transportation has been presented with the proposed road closure and they had no objections with the County proceeding with the closure, sale and consolidation of the road allowance.

The bylaw would need to receive approval from the Minster of Transportation before the County can proceed with second and third reading of the bylaw.

When asked if administration was approaching landowners to take over roads the County doesn’t use anymore, Janzen said they “were actively approaching landowners”, but some have come up on an ad hoc basis. When asked why the road was there, Janzen said it was originally part of the Township Road/Range Road surveying.

“It was just a remnant from the original survey plan, and then it was never closed and consolidated when they redid the alignment for River Ridge Road and Highway 3.”

Following the public hearing, council passed a motion to send Bylaw 23-019 to the Minister of Transportation for approval.