Alberta Municipal Government Board

The Alberta Municipal Government Board (MGB) is a provincial quasi-judicial tribunal in Alberta, Canada. The MGB is affiliated with the Alberta Ministry of Municipal Affairs. The MGB is established pursuant to the Municipal Government Act (MGA), which authorizes it to hear: appeals from subdivision applications involving a provincial interest, appeals of linear property assessments, intermunicipal disputes, municipal annexations, and other matters.

The MGB is composed of Board Members and Staff Members. Board Members are appointed for terms of up to 3 years by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, on recommendation by the Minister of Municipal Affairs. Board Member remuneration is determined by the Lieutenant Governor in Council and periodically updated. Head office is located in Edmonton and hearings are frequently heard in the city, however hearings are conducted throughout the province of Alberta.

The Alberta MGB was established when the MGA came into force January 1, 1995. It has been called the "successor" to three different boards which were dissolved upon its creation:

Property assessment appeals comprised the bulk of the workload of the newly formed MGB, with appeals numbering in the thousands every year. However this changed in 2010 when the MGA was amended and jurisdiction for hearing property assessment appeals was transferred from the MGB to municipal Assessment Review Boards.

The MGB still has a role in hearing property assessment appeals as MGB Board Members regularly sit on municipal ARBs as a ‘provincial member’, which is required by Section 454.2(2) of the MGA. Additionally, the MGB is the first level of appeal for linear property assessment appeals. Linear property assessments are conducted by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, as opposed to the municipality in which the linear property is located.

The MGB has exercised its power to make procedural rules to govern its proceedings. Hearings are typically:

Written decisions are rendered following hearings and are publicly available on the internet.

Section 488(1) of the MGA grants the MGB jurisdiction to:

In Alberta, a landowner who wants to subdivide land must apply to the Subdivision Authority of the municipality where the property is located. The rules pertaining to whether or not the Subdivision Authority may approve a subdivision application are found in the MGA and the Subdivision and Development Regulation (Regulation). If a subdivision is not approved, or is conditionally approved, the landowner has the right to appeal that decision. The appeal normally lies before the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board of the municipality in which the property is located. However, pursuant to Section 678(2)(a) there are several instances in which the appeal lies before the MGB:

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