All 14 members of the City of St. Albert and Sturgeon County councils will help oversee the work on the joint boundary growth study.
The study was announced in January. More details were hammered out at the Feb. 24 intermunicipal affairs committee meeting attended by members of both councils.
The boundary study will look at possible annexations, tax revenue, utilities, future infrastructure needs and more, in an attempt to facilitate any future growth in a co-operative fashion between the two municipalities.
“It’s going to move along very well,” said Sturgeon County Mayor Tom Flynn.
The committee passed motions for staff to implement the study work plan as presented, with the committee providing direction and oversight, to approve a cost-sharing formula for the work and for both municipalities to pay an equal share of the work on the first phase of the study, with special committee workshops coming in April and August.
Flynn said the decision to have the full membership of both councils oversee the work rather than a subcommittee was to help speed up the process.
“We had a choice, we could either give the authority to a few people to make decisions, but the complicating factor would end up being coming back to each of the councils and sort of endorsing the kind of things that are going on, and the process I believe would take a little bit longer that way,” Flynn said.
He said there will be points where each council will have to consult amongst themselves about the direction, but the two councils have been collaborating well, Flynn said.
St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse said the Feb. 24 meeting also saw a group representing several landowners whose land is near the boundaries appear. Such landholdings could be impacted by any decisions made as a result of the study.
“The landowners are starting to weigh in now,” he said.
The two councils decided to not pursue a joint fire services model, opting to continue co-operating through mutual aid agreements, he said.
The price tag for the work is estimated to be more than $100,000, which will be split equally between St. Albert and Sturgeon County. A consultant is being hired to help.
It’s important for all members of each council to be informed on the process instead of using a subcommittee, Crouse said. After all, work on the study could overlap with the 2017 municipal elections.
“It’s a lot of cooks but the stakes are high,” Crouse said.
