On Monday, May 13, 2024, Red Deer City Council adopted the new Zoning Bylaw 3357/2024, which will come into force 30 days after adoption on June 12, 2024. A copy of the Zoning Bylaw is available on The City's webpage.

Before Council adopted the bylaw, they made several changes to improve the regulations, including:

• A maximum height of 12.5m for a house or duplex in the developed areas;
• Removal of the grading diagram from the definitions;
• Increase to the allowable projection for porches, decks, and ramps into rear yards from 3.0m to 3.7m to accommodate a frequent variance;
• Removal of exterior side yard setbacks for corner lots in residential zones;
• Reduction of the side yard requirement for duplexes, with no side entrance, in the R-D zone from 1.5m to 1.25m;
• Reduction of the frontage requirement for all uses, excluding zero lot line developments, in the R-N Residential Narrow Lot Zone to 9.1m from 10.5m; and
• Reduction of the minimum lot area from 245m² to 225m² for zero lot line development and a reduction for all other uses, excluding Public Assembly, to 273m².

Council also directed administration to report back to Council in the first quarter of 2025 on the effects the new Zoning Bylaw has had on development.

The City of Red Deer is reviewing its Land Use Bylaw (Zoning Bylaw). The primary intent of the project is to review the fundamentals and regulations of the Land Use Bylaw, with the intent to increase flexibility and adaptability by reducing regulations where they are not necessary. Equally important, we will be improving the document’s usability and reviewing the related processes to improve the customer experience.

Every municipality in Alberta is required to have a Land Use Bylaw. The Land Use Bylaw establishes rules and regulations for land development as well as the process of making decisions for development permit applications within The City of Red Deer.

This project, it has been broken up into the following stages:

Phase 1 (we are here):

We are currently on this stage, and this is the focus of our public engagement. In this stage, we are reviewing and updating the following components:

• All Residential Zones and Related Regulations
• All Commercial Zones and Related Regulations
• All Industrial Zones and Related Regulations
• Definitions
• Defined Use Regulations
• General Regulations, limited to the following:
  • Parking
  • Landscaping
  • Accessory Buildings

Phase 2 (2024+):

In 2024, we will begin work on reviewing and updating other components of the Land Use Bylaw. Public engagement will continue when we enter this phase. Some of the other parts of the land use bylaw that will be updated in the future include:

• General Regulations
• Overlays and other districts, such as Parks and Environmental Preservation
• Direct Control Districts and Site Exceptions.