Town hosts open house for land annexation application

The Town of Strathmore is looking to expand its borders by annexing a chunk of land from Wheatland County. 

An open house was hosted last month at the town municipal building to open conversation with residents about the annexation application and answer questions about the process. 

“The town is required to prepare an application that identifies what areas of land are proposed to be annexed and create documentation that supports that request. That is passed and sent to the province – to the land and property rights tribunal, who then reviews, assesses the merits of the application,” said Vicki Dodge, annexation project manager with the Town of Strathmore. “They may or may not hold a hearing, and then they package that up and send it to the minister with a recommendation, and that goes forward from there, and the province makes the decision.”

Dodge explained one of the requirements of an application is to undergo negotiations with the responding municipality – in this case, Wheatland County. 

The amount of land to be acquired by the town is not yet set in stone, as the annex agreement has not been signed. Current estimates indicate three and a half quarter sections (approximately 560 acres) of land will be transferred. 

“There are two areas of land being proposed. There is a north area, and a south area. The south area being adjacent to Highway 1, would be predominantly non-residential development in the future; exactly what that looks like is not yet known,” said Dodge. “The land to the north is more likely to be residential in nature, but it could also have neighbourhood commercial uses as well. Exactly what it is going to look like is not known at this time.”

Due to the approval process being through the province, an exact timeline for completion is not able to be firmly estimated.

Dodge added there was a lot of curiosity from the local community expressed during the open house regarding the location and proposal of the annexation. Further, no outright opposition to the process has thus far been indicated. 

“There are five main reasons cited (in the application). One is to support non-residential development to diversify the regional economy and attract new investment, to support additional community benefits through the creation of more job opportunities and more vibrant local economy,” said Dodge. “(It will also) support the potential for additional recreation facilities in the area, and increased housing options – including more affordable housing options.

The last time the town annexed land from the county was in 2010. Following that, the Oxbow annexation, which was debated between 2015 and 2020, was ultimately defeated by the town council at the time. 

The town has posted all current information relating to the annexation process on their website for public inquiry.