The Alberta Professional Planners Institute (APPI) recently recognized Lacombe County’s for their public engagement approach.

They have been given recognition for Lacombe County’s Municipal Development Plan and Land Use Bylaw, which took about two years to complete, for going above and beyond expectations in the province.

Senior Planner with Lacombe County Anita O’Driscoll says it is all thanks to having a supportive and interactive community to work with.

“Planning documents and planning policies are there for the broader communities to make sure we approve good developments and that the county develops in the way that the community wants, so unless you find out from the community what they want, you can’t make a decent plan and that also creates conflict as well.”

A release from the County says they are incredibly lucky to have residents who are willing to give up their time and share their vision and direction for the successful development of the County.

O’Driscoll agrees, “It’s nice to receive something the entire planning team put an awful lot of work into and council and the public gave up so much of their time throughout the process like its quite lengthy and stayed engaged and stayed working on it so it is nice that it was recognized.”

APPI officials say the strategic campaign involved a number of different ways of engaging the public including through school presentations, educational booklets, videos, targeted social media advertising, public meetings, round table discussions, workshops, and interactive web forms.

With that feedback, they constructed a user-friendly guide that sets out the unique vision for the future of Lacombe County.

Earlier this year, Lacombe County was also presented with a Honourable Mention for the 2018 Minister’s Awards for Municipal Excellence for Innovation for their creative approach when engaging the public during these same reviews.