Residential slowly progressing

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Residential housing development is moving forward in Strathmore, particularly in the neighbourhood of Lakewood as presales are moving forward for 51 townhome units. 

According to Scott Silva, director of sales and marketing for Lakewood of Strathmore, the project is taking pre-registration from interested parties, with greater information to be released this spring. 

“We have been working on this since early 2023, working with the town in understanding the development potential for the future buyer,” he said. “I want to stress that this is not Lakewood, it is not our development. We are working with a developer and builder that is going to be building these units.”

Silva added the units will aim to target a specific need for housing in Strathmore, being between 1,100 and 1,400 square-foot, three-story units. 

Currently, Strathmore has a fluctuating vacancy rate of properties largely sitting below one per cent, being unable to service the current demand for local housing.

Beyond the community of Lakewood, Edgefield and Wildflower also maintain ongoing development which remains in their respective early stages. 

“Each of those area structure plans go up to 20 phases or more, and we are in early phases right now – we are in phases three and four of each community. There is still lots of room and still lots of development going to happen in those communities,” said Chuck Proctor, speaking on behalf of the Town of Strathmore regarding Edgefield and Wildflower. “The developers run the timelines themselves, we respond to their applications for the next phases of community development. I have not spoken to them too recently, but I know it is on everybody’s mind – the potential in Strathmore.”

Proctor explained it is typical for the town to receive inquiries regarding low-density residential units both for purchase, as well as for rent. This year, inquiries regarding medium- and higher-density residential units have been increasing. 

“Entire neighbourhoods take a long time. Ideally, we get a phase per year of community, so we have been on the lower growth side, but ideally, a community can be finished in 20 years or less, sometimes 15 or 10 years or less,” he said. “They move a lot faster in Calgary where they are doing a bunch of really fast, big phases. Strathmore would hopefully like to get there one day, but we are a smaller community so we move at a different pace.”

Currently amidst conversations on the town’s agenda are those in regards to regulations surrounding garden and garage suites, and potentially being able to provide more affordable housing options in town.