The City of St. Albert and Sturgeon County are teaming up to study the future of boundary growth.
The municipalities announced plans to conduct a joint boundary growth study on Wednesday, following the two councils’ intermuncipal affairs committee meeting on Jan. 26.
“We’re excited about this,” said St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse. “This is the result of two and a half years of effort between two councils.”
The study is about more than potential annexations, though the boundary between the two municipalities will be a large part of the study.
“The boundary is the piece of it that people can relate to the most,” said Crouse, but it will also look at issues like tax revenue, utilities, oversizing infrastructure, costs and even road planning.
It’s likely that increasing St. Albert’s boundaries could result in some financial implications in the future – Crouse pointed out that the last annexation from Sturgeon County, about a decade ago, involved a cash requirement and years of transitioning for taxes.
“It’s in part about annexation … but I don’t want us to downplay that there are many other factors at play here, money, servicing, roads, all those things, land owner input, all that stuff,” Crouse said.
Both he and Sturgeon County Mayor Tom Flynn highlighted the consensual nature of this work.
“We’ve continued to work together very well about the future of both municipalities,” said Flynn. He said the councils have tried to have open discussions about what’s going to be best for both municipalities in the long term.
“It’s important to work together to do that,” he said.
Flynn pointed out that the study will look at what kind of growth can and should happen, and where. He noted that there’s a memorandum of understanding signed a couple years ago that states that Sturgeon County is not in the business of growing urban areas.
The study should help bring clarity for residents and landowners wondering what the future will look like, Flynn said.
It’s important from Sturgeon County’s perspective to work together on the future, he said.
“If we don’t organize it right, it can be a hostile sort of a thing,” Flynn said. “So we’re far better off to do it on a collaborative basis where we understand each other and work through that on a collaborative basis.”
A consultant will be hired to conduct the study. Crouse said work has already begun on selecting the consultant, and St. Albert is taking the lead.
“You’re going to see this kick off in the next month,” he said, but noted it could take a couple of years to finish the work. The first round of recommendations could come later in 2016, Crouse said.
The county and city will be paying for the study jointly. Crouse said there will be an application for a provincial grant that encourages collaboration between municipalities to help cover the cost.
