St. Albert and Sturgeon County start annexation discussions

by Morinville News Staff

The joint St. Albert/Sturgeon County Annexation Negotiating Committee met for the first time Dec. 6, 2017. The committee includes representation from both Councils and follows St. Albert’s Notice of Intent to Annex lands from Sturgeon County this past June.

Sturgeon County Councillor Susan Evans was appointed Chair of the Annexation Negotiating Committee as well as the group’s main spokesperson. St. Albert Councillor Ray Watkins was appointed Vice-Chair.

“We are committed to working together to plan the best way forward for our two municipalities and our residents,” said St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron in a release Friday.

Those words were echoed by Sturgeon County Mayor Alanna Hnatiw. “Sturgeon County and the City of St. Albert will continue to be good neighbours and have frank and productive discussions as we work together in the best interests of our residents,” she said.

The City of St. Albert will lead the public consultation process, and are currently commissioning planning and growth studies, as part of their application. While negotiations by the Committee will remain confidential, resident input will be requested in the coming months.

The Committee’s responsibilities include discussing the topics of compensation, tax protection, bylaw enforcement, municipal service-levels, and the final boundary change to be proposed to the Municipal Government Board.

A map representing the maximum potential area to be annexed can be downloaded at https://stalbert.ca/global/images/maps/COSA-SturgeonCounty-Annexation-Map.pdf.

The final annexation area will be identified by the Annexation Negotiating Committee and approved by both Sturgeon County Council and City of St. Albert Council before the proposal is sent to the Municipal Government Board for consideration.

Both municipalities promise ongoing updates. Residents of the two communities will receive specific information about the annexation and have the opportunity to attend open houses or subscribe to an electronic newsletter.

Visit the City of St. Albert website at stalbert.ca/annexation to sign up for the newsletter.

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2 Comments

    • Jaime; Re traffic flow down
      You are so right on! I really think St. Albert’s agenda is to get about 20 more stop lights going between the edge of Sturgeon County and Costco so that they can set a Guinness world record for the number of unsynchronized red lights and red light cameras. It’s ridiculous. It can take as much as 30 minutes to go from the north side of the St. Albert to the south side of St. Albert.

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