Vacant Country Residential Lots in Parkland County

An oversupply of Vacant CR lots in Parkland County creates 2 core issues:

1) Scattered vacancy in subdivisions that must be serviced even with no occupants to provide a tax base

2) Fragmentation of agricultural lands, counter to the goals in their MDP

Based on our analyses, we came up with the 7 policy proposals shown here, and then a scoring matrix to help the County assess them at a glance.

Interim Analysis Showed

1,097 CR parcels are vacant (=~12% of developable CR)

724/1,097 are subdivided lots

80% occupied parcels <2ha

Clearer guidance in the development process is needed to discourage improper starts
Oversupply is concentrated in older, more poorly defined ASP areas
Subdivision of large agricultural CR lots leads to lower agricultural capacity
Subdivision of agricultural CR to residential CR should be disincentivized
CR has been used as a “catch-all” district, which promotes disorganized development
Development of existing vacant subdivision parcels should be incentivized
A combination of municipal tools should be implemented to initiate development

Incomplete data is a persistent issue in decision-making
Neighbouring vacancy strategies emphasize local partnerships and providing easily accessed information
Downzoning frameworks should discourage long-term passive holding
Parkland could categorize land into “Community Areas” and “Agricultural Areas” to provide clear geographic boundaries for where country residential lifestyle is promoted