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City of Red Deer gets ball rolling on annexing more land

”It’s important we look ahead,” says Mayor Veer
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(Advocate file photo.)

Not wanting to be caught up short again, without enough land to develop, Red Deer City Council moved on exploring annexation with Red Deer County.

Mayor Tara Veer recalled that “a generation of growth was lost” when the city ran out of industrial land in the early 2000s, and new industries were forced to locate outside city boundaries. Even though the city is not currently in a “growth economy,” it’s important not to underestimate the city’s future growth needs, she added.

Councillors unanimously approved asking staff to prepare to explore possibilities for annexing more residential, commercial and industrial land.

The Intermunicipal Development Plan (IDP) between the city and the county recommends that the city has within its boundary a 30 to 50 year supply of developable land for growth purposes. But city projects planner David Girardin told council on Monday that there is only a 17-year land supply, according to a formula that considers average population growth and density figures.

No specific hectares have yet been selected for possible annexation, but Girardin said the IDP shows the city’s growth area as falling in an upside-down U shape towards the north, east and west. (The city is not developing southward as this is the Red Deer County’s growth area.)

Coun. Ken Johnston said it’s easy to not think of the city’s physical growth needs while the economy is on slow-growth mode. But the Conference Board of Canada and other authorities are predicting Alberta’s economy will soon be expanding, he added, and when it does, the city should be ready.

”We need to be nimble when opportunities happen,” agreed Coun. Michael Dawe.

Girardin said the next step will be to prepare to serve a Notice of Intent to Annex. It must be presented to Red Deer County, the Municipal Government Board and other authorities. The second step will be negotiating with the county on which land to incorporate within the city’s boundaries, then consulting with affected landowners. Girardin said even if the annexation process “ran perfectly” he would not expect it to move quicker than a couple of years.

Veer noted that it can take a decade from when an annexation decision is made for land to be serviced and made available for construction. “It’s critical that we consider our annexation options now.”