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Open house for annexation

Area residents have opportunity to review new proposed boundaries Nov. 20
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Proposed boundaries for St. Albert's annexation of Sturgeon County land. CITY OF ST. ALBERT/map

Land owners potentially impacted by an expansion of St. Albert's borders will have a chance to air any thoughts or concerns during an open house next Wednesday.

In October, the city released proposed revised boundaries for annexation of Sturgeon County land. Residents in the area will have a chance to look at maps of the new boundaries and ask questions about next steps at the open house.

When annexation negotiations first kicked off, the two municipalities agreed on a maximum annexation boundary. Since then, an annexation negotiating subcommittee has been narrowing down where the actual lines will be drawn.

The Nov. 20 open house will be another step toward finalizing new boundaries, which will play an important role in further finalizing negotiations.

“After this is done, they’re determining what the final boundary is and then further negotiations based on that,” said St. Albert city councillor Sheena Hughes. “Some of the negotiations determining things have to wait until you know what the actual land mass is.”

Members of the public are welcome to drop in between 5 and 7 p.m. at Christ Community Church, where displays of maps and figures outlining the process so far will be up. There will be no formal presentation, but members of the annexation team will be available to answer questions.

“If anybody does have anything they want to – whether they just want to come see it or they have concerns, this is the time to bring them forward,” Hughes said.

Moving forward, the annexation subcommittee will review the results of a financial impact assessment and plans to prepare an annexation application to the Municipal Government Board in mid-2020, according to St. Albert corporate communications manager Cory Sinclair.

So far, negotiations have resulted in the omission of three portions of land from proposed annexation boundaries, one in each corner of the maximum boundary. Notably, the northeast corner with Bellerose Drive running through it was omitted.

Mayor Cathy Heron said last month the revision was based on technical studies for servicing the new areas, and she said it would be too costly to service the small basin.

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