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ASVA Objectives
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The Association of Summer Villages of Alberta (ASVA) was formed in 1958 as a not for profit association to provide a common forum for all of the Summer Villages in the province of Alberta. ASVA represents the interests of its members in dealings the provincial government as well as those between ASVA and other organizations. ASVA also undertakes special intiatives such as the Lake Stewarship Guide to assist its members in dealing with some of the challenges facing Alberta's lake communities
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The objectives of ASVA are...
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Traditionally, Summer Villages evolved from cottage resort areas where seasonal residents desired a role in local government or where the cottage owners were dissatisfied with the levels of service provided or prompted by dramatic increase in municipal taxes imposed by the rural municipality. In other situations it was a combination of high taxes and poor to no services being provided in relation to the amount of taxes being paid. The services being refered to were not limited to the traditional public works kind of service but also included enviromental and public safety services.
In the early to mid eighties, a dramatic increase in municipal taxes, imposed by rural municipalities due to some of them abolishing their split mill rate, as well as spiraling increases in supplementary school requisitions resulted in numerous requests for incorporation.
Legal documents associated with the formation of Alberta's oldest Summer Villages contain information of particular interest. It relates to eligibility for incorporation, the emergence of the terminology 'Summer Village' and amendments to the Village Act of 1913.
Traditionally, Summer Villages were formed from 'Summer Resort' areas. Their residents were predominately seasonal and not permanent.
When Provincial Statue Chapter 39 established the Summer Village of Lakeview in October 1913, it severed the cottage area from the Village of Wabamun. The Act stated that..."the said lands have been converted into summer resorts by their owners who occupy them for short portion of each year" ...As well, when Gull Lake, the oldest Summer Village was incorporated in March 1913 the document of incorporation identified, among other lands, a plan of addition to "Gull Lake Summer Resort".
The 1918 amendment to Section 10 of the Village Act of 1913 specified eligibility for incorporation in part, as being an area..."where the residents of the Summer Village desire the same to be erected into a Village."
The first use of the term Summer Village appears in the incorporation notice for Seba Beach which was, ..." erected into a Summer Village under the name of the Village of Seba Beach" At the time of the incorporation of Alberta Beach, three weeks later on August 23, 1920, it was named the Summer Village of Alberta Beach.
However, the 1921 amendment to the Village Act seemed to be the first time the term Summer Village was used within the meaning of the Act.
In accordance with the Village Act of 1907, elections were held during the second week of January, usually on Monday, and the period of residency for owners or occupiers was three months immediately prior to Election Day. The problem faced by resort owners was explained in the following excerpt from the preamble to Provincial Statute, Chapter 39.1913, which established the Summer Village of Lakeview.
"Whereas owing to the fact that none of the owners of the said lands reside thereon during the winter months, they are not in a position to exercise their right to vote at the annual election for councilors, nor to offer themselves for election as councilor and consequently have no voice or representation in the government of the village and no practical means of in anyway supervising the expenditure of the revenue derived from taxes paid in respect of the said lands."
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Changes to the Village Act of 1907, (Provincial Statute Chapter 5. 1913) referred to the first municipal election as being held before or after the first day of July.
When Section 10 (a) was added to The Village Act in 1918, this amendment provided for the incorporation of summer villages.
The terms "resided" or "occupied" referred to a temporary residence or occupation of one month or more during the summer. Elections were also changed to the second Monday of August.
Finally in this regard, Provincial Statute 31. 1921, amended Section 10 (a) by removing the requirement that electors and councilors be resident of a Summer Village.
Thus, as is the case today, seasonal residents of Summer Villages are eligible to vote and serve on councils and to vote or seek election in the municipality in which they reside on permanent basis.
The minimum number of dwelling houses or separate buildings required for formation also changed through the years. In the early years legislation specified 25 dwelling houses, the same number as for village formation. Changes to the Town and Village Act in 1934 increased the number to 35.
In 1957 Kenneth A. McKenzie was mayor of Itaska Beach and Charles Denney was secretary treasurer. Mr. Mckenzie was so concerned about how grants were being reduced to his Summer Village that he took his case to some members of Cabinet. So successful was he that Charles Denney felt Kenneth McKenzie's singular victory signalled the potential for greater lobby strength if Summer Villages could be united in their own assocation. Charles than called an organizational meeting to be held in the McDougall room of the Edmontons old YMCA on November 5, 1958. Thirty three came representing eleven of Alberta's sixteen Summer Villages, from this meeting the Assocation of Summer Villages of Alberta was born.
In 1968 the Municipal Government Act, which replaced the Town and Village Act differentiated between Villages and Summer Villages. Seventy-Five separate buildings were now required for Village formation, while only fifty were specificity for Summer Village incorporation. In 1995 when the new municipal Government Act came into force the requirement to form a Summer Village was an area in which there are at least 60 parcels of land that have buildings used as dwellings located on them. The majority of persons who would be electors do not reside in that area and the population is less then 300.
Whereas a Village, may be formed for an area in which a majority of the buildings are on parcels of land smaller then 1850 square meters and the population is 300 or more.
This legislation was amended and given Royal Assent on May 17, 1995.
The amendment removed Summer Villages as a type of municipality that may be formed in Alberta. Existing Summer Villages are allowed to continue but no new Summer Villages will be formed.
This legislation would appear to have been passed in accordance with the Provincial Governments' efforts to reduce or curtail any increase in the number of local governments operating within the province. This move would appear to have been done with no apparent research or consultation such as that which was afforded the local governments for health and education.
Prepared by Jim Sandmaier, ASVA. Information sourced from Archie Grover's committee reprort "task force on the future of summer villages", the Municipal Affairs Municipal Profiles web site and "history of the assocation of summer villages of Alberta " by Charles Denney and Chris McElroy.
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