Strathmore nearly doubles in size
Shannon LeClair – Times Reporter
Town officials were happy when they heard the annexation had been granted. The annexation had been in the works for a number of years, and finally on May 30, the Town got what they wanted.
“We found out about it a little after 3 p.m. last Friday and then we all got very excited and are on cloud nine,” said Dwight Stanford, Chief Administration Officer for the Town of Strathmore.
In December of 2008 a proposal was put forth to the municipal government board and last June a hearing was called. The hearing took place in Strathmore and three board members came and met with the Town. Both the Town and county made presentations which took over a week. At the end of it they were told they would hear back early this year.
“The board really liked the way we handled the presentation,” said Stanford.
From December until June there were meetings held between the town and county offices to determine exactly what it was both sides were hoping to achieve.
“This is a future thing, which council has been planning all along. We have now solved the water line, the waste water treatment and now we have resolved the annexation which was basically the last step in that 50,000 is not out of line, we are set for that kind of population,” said Mayor George Lattery.
“This started in 1998, so it’s been a long process – but now that we have it, it’s going to last us a long time. 18.5 quarters means it (could) almost doubles the population.”
There is still a lot of work to be done though. The Alberta government wants the town to begin working towards establishing an inter-municipal development plan (IDP).
An IDP is a plan which explains how the land is to be used, what will be developed and where.
“We had covered all the bases that they had asked us to do. We’re very, very happy, it was just so exciting. You put so much time into this and there are so many hoops you have to go through so that when it finally comes down to the end it’s just a great feeling to finally get it,” said Lattery.
With the extra land comes a few extra things the town must now take care of.
“There are things that we have to do now, such as snow removal on east boundary road and north boundary road, mowing the ditches, we’re responsible for that,” said Stanford.
The town is also now responsible for the fire service. For example, if there are grass fires, or accidents on the highway, it is up to them to send personnel out.
Another thing which changed is the census. Despite the economy Strathmore still grew by 4.9 per cent last year. The land tax for the first year will go to the county, and for the five years following it will slowly decrease at which point the county will stop receiving the taxes.
The benefits of the annexation will affect the town for a long time to come and will not be an issue which needs to be raised again for a number of years. The town received just about everything asked for. Developers have already looked into buying this land, and the first phase has already been sold to four developers who are to begin work soon.