Director of Urban Design and Standards position will provide expertise and support for development matters

The Municipality of Jasper is creating a new director position to help guide its planning and development challenges into the future. 

A recommendation to create a new full-time permanent Director of Urban Design and Standards position was discussed at length at the March 26 Committee of the Whole meeting. Then, at the Tuesday, April 2 regular council meeting, Councillor Scott Wilson, fresh from the 2024 National Housing Conference in Ottawa and with “a tool box of ideas, proven methodology and gumption” from that summit, made the motion to amend the 2024 budget to create the new full-time position.   

“We have to be ready if we get the opportunity to move ahead with land use and planning,” Wilson said, speaking to his motion. “Now’s the time to start making those plans and get a position trained up and ready to assist us with that.”

Last week, CAO Bill Given presented his recommendation that council use the MOJ’s 2024 Financial Stabilization Reserve Fund to carve out $95,000 to finance the position’s creation for the remainder of this budget cycle (notably, with no impact on municipal property taxes). It will be a $180,000 line item in 2025, one which will be “significantly offset through savings in other areas,” Given said.

Given made the case that council has significant planning documents on the books (updating the Jasper Community Plan and creating a Transportation Master Plan, for example), and said a new Director of Urban Design and Standards would greatly assist the development of those strategies. Moreover, Given said, there are unique land use and development cases in Jasper where extra resources beyond the town’s current capacity are required; not having that leadership at the municipal level has been difficult for the development community, he said.

“Subject matter expertise would serve as a key resource for municipal administration, offering expertise and support for existing development tasks and challenges.”

The new position would coordinate and lead public engagement efforts for projects such as the renewed community plan, the Transportation Master Plan, the MOJ’s future affordable housing project on Connaught Drive, the development of the new RCMP detachment and other infill developments, Given said. The new director’s portfolio would also cover signing off on land use opinions related to Jasper’s wastewater treatment plant; and encroachment agreements such as sidewalk seating and patio matters.

“In many other communities these discussions would be handled outside of legislative services or protective services,” Given said. “We tend to see them as enforcement of bylaws rather than as part of a comprehensive impact.”

Councillor calls on Parks Canada to take housing action

Wilson, who wasn’t at the committee meeting on March 26 for Given’s presentation, was nevertheless enthusiastic about how the new Director of Urban Design and Standards would help chip away at Jasper’s housing crisis.

“I really support the municipality getting more involved in an issue that really affects us,” he said.

But even though the MOJ is on the path to obtaining more land use and development authority, the municipality can’t do it alone. The time is now for Parks Canada to start picking the “low hanging fruit,” he said—for example ending exclusionary zoning, legalizing density and considering following B.C.’s lead in rezoning every residential zone as multi-family.

“As the controlling body, Parks Canada must take their obligation to take rapid, urgent housing action seriously,” Wilson said. “I challenge [Jasper National Park Superintendent] Mr. Fehr to act on that responsibility.”

Wilson added that land use power brokers should be helping minimize risks to developers by removing barriers such as offsite levies, subdivision costs and up-zoning costs, and referenced a new $6 billion federal housing investment program that comes with certain conditions—namely, that provinces and municipalities must comply with density requirements and impose development cost freezes in cities.

In Jasper, land use and development authorities should prioritize the construction of garage suites and carriage homes, and remove parking minimums, Wilson suggested.

“If Parks doesn’t have the capacity, we need to request that the municipality take the reins,” he said. 

“We can’t wait until the next community plan, there must be action on housing now.”

After Mayor Richard Ireland thanked Wilson for his “impassioned update,” council passed the motion to create the new Director of Urban Design and Standards unanimously (5-0; councillors Kathleen Waxer and Helen Kelleher-Empy were away).

Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com