The Government of Saskatchewan amended the Statements of Provincial Interest (SPI) Regulations on July 16, 2020, to ensure the City of Regina protects future runway expansion of the Regina International Airport (YQR). The SPI act as a governing document for all municipalities in Saskatchewan. Section 32 (1) of the Planning and Development Act, 2007 (Act) requires that the Official Community Plan “must incorporate, insofar as is practical, any applicable provincial land use policies and statements of provincial interest.” As such, the City of Regina has endeavoured to update Design Regina: The Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 2013-48 (OCP) to ensure compatibility with provincial regulations.
The specific SPI amendment follows:
Ensure the current and future runway expansion plans, aviation, and navigation needs of the Saskatoon and Regina International Airports are not compromised by development in proximity to these airports.
There is no anticipated timeline for a runway expansion at YQR, however, the City is proposing updates to two maps within the OCP and policy text amendments to ensure the airport’s future growth is protected and addressed as development proposals come forward.
Financial Impacts
There are no anticipated financial impacts to the City of Regina concerning the policy amendments. Any future runway expansion at YQR would be a cost borne by the airport.
Policy/Strategic Impact
The proposed amendments are in keeping with the OCP and do not conflict with any other OCP policies.
The City of Regina has been instructed by the Government of Saskatchewan, Ministry of Governmental Relations (Ministry), to update the OCP to reflect the SPI changes to protect YQR’s long-term growth needs with a deadline of the end of May 2021.
A change to the OCP protecting runway expansion ensures orderly growth of the city of Regina and Regina International Airport.
Alternative options would be:
1. Reject the amendments.
This option is not recommended by Administration as it would be contrary to provincial direction. OCP amendments require Council to adopt bylaw amendments, which are subsequently forwarded to the Ministry for final approval. Previous amendments were adopted by Council on January 22, 2020, as part of the 5-year review of the OCP, which received conditional approval by the Ministry on May 11, 2020 with the instructions to amend the airport related maps in the OCP. Deviating from provincial direction could put the past OCP amendments, endorsed by Council, in jeopardy.
2. Refer the report back to Administration with specific changes.
Pursuing this option would require Administration to seek an extension from the Ministry.
Public notice of the public hearing to be conducted upon consideration of the proposed bylaw amendments will be given in accordance with The Public Notice Policy Bylaw, 2020.
The proposed amendments and associated City Council meeting will be advertised on
CityPage in the Regina Leader-Post and online at Regina.ca.
Proposal
Maps
The OCP currently contains policies and maps regarding planning in proximity to the airport found in the Health and Safety section and Maps 9 and 10 (Appendix A-1 and A-3). The proposed changes to Map 9 (Appendix A-2) include the inclusion of the Flight Protection Areas for New Development (Height). This boundary is brought forward from the Overlay in Regina Zoning Bylaw No. 19-19. Developments within this boundary are typically circulated to the Regina Airport Authority (RAA) for review on potential airport impacts. Future development proposals including concept plans within this boundary will collaborate with the RAA to ensure compatibility.
The proposed changes to Map 10 (Appendix A-4) also include the same height boundary as in Map 9. Additionally, arrows indicating directions of future runway growth have been added with a statement that the Noise Exposure Forecast (NEF) contours on the map, derived from the YQR Airport Master Plan, may be subject to change due to future runway expansions. The Height Restriction Transition Zone and Clear Zone have been removed from the existing Map 10 (Appendix A-3) due to redundancy of information.
Policy
The updated policy and maps in the OCP will ensure that future developments and future neighbourhood plans consider the Regina International Airport expansion plans.
The following policy statements are proposed to be added to the OCP, Part A, Section D9, Goal 3:
Policy 11.14A: Consult the Regina International Airport for any development in proximity to the airport.
Policy 11.14B: Consider long-term expansion plans of the Regina International Airport in planning and development decisions on lands in the vicinity of the airport, in consultation with the Regina International Airport.
Further, Policy 11.13 is proposed to be amended to reference both Map 9 and 10 (currently only references Map 10).
Community Engagement
Affected stakeholders, including the RAA and developers with approved or pending concept plans within the vicinity of the Regina International Airport, were notified of proposed changes and asked to provide comments. At the time of this report no major concerns were identified through stakeholder consultations. The proposed map and policy amendments were developed in consultation with RAA.
City Council’s approval is required pursuant to Part V of The Planning and Development Act, 2007.
Respectfully Submitted, Respectfully Submitted,
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