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Old Posted Feb 5, 2014, 3:54 PM
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speedog speedog is offline
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Edmonton & Calgary annexation - what's next?

So after perusing a variety of threads in these forums (and others) as well as light reading on the internet, it's becoming evident that both the cities of Edmonton and Calgary are facing looming issues with regards to either annexation or how to deal with municipalities on their door steps.

In past decades, Calgary has annexed and absorbed Midnapore (1961), Forest Lawn (1961), Bowness (1963) and most recently Shepherd (2007) - please note I will only speak to Calgary's past annexations as I only have more intimate knowledge of the Calgary area and don't really know Edmonton that well in that respect.

So move forward to 2013 and for Calgary I see the communities of Chestermere and to a lesser extent, Airdrie, as future locales that Calgary will either need to annex or get some sort of agreement signed with respect to services/infrastructure cost sharing. Balzac and Conrich are two other spots that might need looking at as well but at this point in time their populations/needs are not that significant. Cochrane, Okotoks, Langdon, High River and Strathmore are also creating issues but annexation for those communities is not an issue IMHO because of the further distances they are from Calgary.

So on to Edmonton, can't speak about past annexations because I just don't know but it's a bigger set of similar problems up there because Edmonton literally has a number of larger communities right on their door steps including St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Nisku, Leduc and just a bit further out Acheson, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Fort Saskatchewan, Beaumont and possibly even Devon.

Now I don't know if Edmonton has any cost sharing agreements in place with their nearby (let's call them, bedroom communities) but on the surface the need for annexation or agreements seems more pressing in the Edmonton region as compared to Calgary just because of the relative closeness of Edmonton's bedroom communities as compared to Calgary's.

Annexation of the two nearest bedroom communities in the Calgary area, Airdrie and Chestermere, just doesn't look like it'll ever happen - the 60's when Calgary did it's last major annexations were a different time. So on to Edmonton, has annexation ever been addressed with respect to St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Nisku or Leduc as they are large bedroom communities which have existed on Edmonton's doorstep for quite a while or are there Service/cost sharing agreements in place?

Certainly in both Edmonton and Calgary's cases, something will have to be done - leaves me wondering how other large urban areas have dealt with this problem, BC's lower mainland is one example that comes to mind. I do know that Calgary provides water and sewer services to some of it's bedroom communities but they are bigger issues like the load these bedroom communities put on Calgary's road and transit infrastructures.

Thoughts? Ideas?
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  #2  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2014, 9:25 PM
Oliver Klozov Oliver Klozov is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by speedog View Post
.....
So on to Edmonton, can't speak about past annexations because I just don't know but it's a bigger set of similar problems up there because Edmonton literally has a number of larger communities right on their door steps including St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Nisku, Leduc and just a bit further out Acheson, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Fort Saskatchewan, Beaumont and possibly even Devon.
Edmonton had a big annexation in the 60s (probably the same time as Forest Lawn/Montgomery/Bowness to Calgary) that included Jasper Place to the west and Beverly to the east.




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Originally Posted by speedog View Post
Now I don't know if Edmonton has any cost sharing agreements in place with their nearby (let's call them, bedroom communities) but on the surface the need for annexation or agreements seems more pressing in the Edmonton region as compared to Calgary just because of the relative closeness of Edmonton's bedroom communities as compared to Calgary's.
Yeah well sort of; it's called the Captial Region Board

To learn more: http://capitalregionboard.ab.ca/


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Originally Posted by speedog View Post
So on to Edmonton, has annexation ever been addressed with respect to St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Nisku or Leduc as they are large bedroom communities which have existed on Edmonton's doorstep for quite a while ...
Edmonton has tried many times to annex St Albert and Sherwood Park (no such place really; it's a hamlet in the County of Strathcona) without success. The last big annexation brought in a lot of farmland in the NE almost reaching Fort Saskatchewan. As a result, Edmonton's shape is getting rather strange.
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Old Posted Feb 9, 2014, 7:02 AM
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I think Chestermere will happen, unsure about Airdrie.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that when Calgary did the annexation in the 60s it was looked upon favorably by the smaller communities as it meant the services they were buying Calgary anyway would be cheaper.
As for Airdrie, it's so large that is has named communities within its borders. I couldn't see it being swallowed up as a whole, but perhaps each if its current communities would become Calgary ones, with the downtown being renamed to "Airdrie" or something. That said, I wonder what the mindset is of Airdriates about annexation. Might Airdrie be the first adjacent municipality that doesn't get absorbed once Calgary is right next door?
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Old Posted Feb 9, 2014, 7:06 AM
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To give an idea of timing, developed Airdrie is about 10 km north of developed Calgary, but the city limits are only about 3 km apart.
Developed Chestermere is about 5.5 km East of developed Calgary, but the city limits are touching.
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Old Posted Feb 9, 2014, 8:27 AM
ue ue is offline
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Originally Posted by Oliver Klozov View Post




Edmonton has tried many times to annex St Albert and Sherwood Park (no such place really; it's a hamlet in the County of Strathcona) without success. The last big annexation brought in a lot of farmland in the NE almost reaching Fort Saskatchewan. As a result, Edmonton's shape is getting rather strange.
Which was back in 1982, I believe. To this day, most of the NE remains undeveloped farmland. Development has instead been focused on the south, which is good in a way, because NE Edmonton contains some of the most fertile soil in Alberta, apparently.

Now Edmonton isn't looking to annex Sherwood Park or Saint Albert, but a vast swath of farmland to the south of the city up to and including YEG, much to the chagrin of Leduc County. We'll see how that plays out as the city is very quickly running out of room to grow to the south, which seems the most desirable direction to sprawl out these days here.
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Old Posted Feb 11, 2014, 9:16 AM
red-paladin red-paladin is offline
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In Metro Vancouver, Amalgamation / Annexation doesn't seem to be possible.
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  #7  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2014, 2:27 PM
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In Metro Vancouver, Amalgamation / Annexation doesn't seem to be possible.
Unfortunately.
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