Planning Technician

at  The City of Spruce Grove

ABOUT US

The City of Spruce Grove is a fast growing, dynamic city committed to building and maintaining a fiscally responsible community that serves our residents, attracts visitors, and promotes future growth.
The “Values, We Live By” are accountability, communication, leadership, integrity, and respect while we work towards maintaining a work/play balance.
We are an organization that cares, an organization that is committed to our city and committed to you. The City of Spruce Grove is committed to public service, where everyone feels empowered to contribute their best work. We believe that by working together in a spirit of collaboration and respect, we can achieve great things.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Post-secondary diploma in a related field such as urban or municipal planning, GIS, engineering drafting, cartography, geography or geomatics.
• Minimum two (2) years related experience.
• Knowledge of Municipal Government Act, Land Titles Act, Subdivision and Development Regulations, the Condominium Act and the City’s Statutory Plans and the Land Use Bylaw.
• Knowledge of Planning and Development processes, statutory plans and subdivisions.
• Cartographic skills with experience in development of a variety of maps from raw data, including thematic, physical and orthophotographic mapping.
• Excellent skills with ArcGIS, AutoCad and Microsoft Office.
• Able to work with various graphic formats and PDFs.
• High quality assurance skills to ensure accuracy in printed material, mapping, and data gathering and monitoring
• Creativity, time management and organization.
• Excellent communications skills: written, oral and graphic.
• Highly self-directed especially with regards to software updates, changes and training, along with an ability to learn new software.
• Ability to represent information spatially and graphically.
• Experience in data management and analysis.
• Experience with using scanners, plotters and understanding of printer drivers for graphic purposes.

ASSET QUALIFICATIONS:

• Membership in Canadian Association of Certified Planning Technicians or Regulated members of Alberta Professional Planners Institute.
• Experience using CityView, InDesign, Adobe Illustrator or similar software, Alberta Online, SPIN 2 etc.

1. Planning and Subdivision Technical Support

• Reviewing proposed current planning and subdivision applications for compliance with City standards and bylaws, and undertakes technical research, analysis and data provision to support applications and initiatives to ensuring accurate data can then be incorporated into the GIS database.
• Reviewing plans of subdivision for compliance with subdivision regulations, Land Use Bylaw requirements, Municipal Reserve (parks, school land, etc.) layout and size, conformance with adopted zoning boundaries and Area Structure Plan land uses, correct technical information such as proper legal descriptions and ensuring they are in conformance with provincial land titles requirements.
• Maintaining and monitoring municipal reserve dedication for park and school sites to ensure development compliance with MDP and MGA policies and the Land Use Bylaw.
• Preparing documents for registration at Alberta Land Titles (e.g.: Deferred Reserve Caveats and Discharges) and reviewing proposed registration documents prepared by applicant’s surveyor and/or lawyer.
• Conducting site inspections.
• Maintaining and monitoring relevant statistics for statutory plans and neighbourhoods such as density or housing mix to ensure compliance with MDP, EMRB and MGA policies, and the Land Use Bylaw.
• Reviewing statutory plan applications and amendments for consistency with City-compiled statistics.
• Maintaining and reporting regularly on statistics related to planning applications and initiatives.
• Assisting planners in researching and analyzing information for statutory plans and other studies.
• Researching property or bylaw histories by tracking bylaws and their amendments; development agreements, land titles, easements, legal documents, metes and bounds descriptions, registered plans, etc. and undertaking title searches and document and easement searches for the Department.
• Providing information and mapping to various external clients i.e. Canada Post, Utility companies.
• Preparing and registering mapping and legal documents related to Road Closures.

1. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Database Management

• Creating and managing geospatial data, specific to Planning and Development (P&D) Department requirements, in GIS databases, data sets or layers in accordance with corporate GIS standards and working in collaboration with the corporate GIS group.
• Verifying parcel data from AltaLis downloads with final subdivision plans, road closures and other related Planning and Development decisions.
• Identifying, creating and maintaining databases, data layers or data sets of relevant spatial information required by Planning and Development, and incorporating it into the GIS system aligning with corporate GIS standards.
• Creating and maintaining the Land Use Bylaw, statutory plan and subdivision databases, data sets and maps.
• Compiling reports using GIS and other data sources.
• Analysing and discovering trends through mapping of spatial data.
• Creating feature classes and designing digital maps with geographic data and other data sources.
• Managing a digital library of geographic maps for P&D purposes in various file types.
• Quality control of Planning and Development geospatial data.
• Verifying and testing P&D access and data in GIS after software updates.
• Technical training, often self-directed, as well as troubleshooting for any issues that arise.

1. Mapping, Graphics and Documentation

• Ensuring maps associated with statutory documents (Area Structure Plans, Area Redevelopment Plans, Land
• Using Bylaw, Municipal Development Plan, etc. to remain consistent and current with City Council decisions.
• Producing presentation materials for open houses or other public consultations as needed.
• Preparing maps for public notifications, bylaws, Council reports, Department reports and presentations.
• Producing thematic maps for general use, such as citywide maps of all Area Structure Plan areas, maps of park or school locations and sizes, etc.
• Conducting background research in support of the map being produced.
• Keeping all resource material (i.e.. statutory documents, MDPs, ASPs, LUBs and associated maps) up-to-date for Planning and Development staff, website and various other users.
• Designing and preparing Public Hearing ads.
• Updating and maintaining the Department’s web presence for the Planning & Development work units, including the design and editing of web pages.
• Preparing graphics for public consultation and open houses e.g. display boards.
• Designing and updating marketing materials related to Planning, Development and Building Services e.g. brochures.
• Providing mapping services to other departments under special circumstances (e.g., requests from Council, preparations of figures or exhibits in support of projects, or for occasional exhibits associated with legal documents for Legal Services).

1. Addressing and Naming

• Responsible for all addressing and street naming within the City in accordance with adopted policies.
• Developing overall addressing schemes for new neighbourhoods including forecasting such things as street development, staging, emergency services requirements, Public Works requirements.
• Assigning addresses in accordance with City addressing regulations and policies.
• Working closely with the public to understand their addressing needs. Preparing the required address assignment documentation and overseeing circulation of all new addresses and street names to City departments and affected external service agencies.

1. Other Duties

• Understand and adhere to City policies, procedures and standards, whether written or implied, as amended from time to time.
• Contribute to a positive safety culture by always acting in a safe manner and complying with City safety policies and procedures for staff and contractors.
• Act as a steward of the City’s Corporate Culture by following the “Values, We Live By”.
• Perform other job-related duties.