Calgary has pulled back from plans to annex a small portion of remnant Foothills County land in the southwest.
City councillors made the decision to withdraw from the annexation process after public consultation and technical analysis of the area. The City also said it had determined they have enough land supply within its boundaries to serve for the next 35 to 49 years, based on current growth rates.
The parcel of land was a 415.15-acre parcel just south of 210 Avenue SW and east of 64 Street West. It bordered the north boundary of the Sirocco golf club, just outside the city limits.
Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer, who is the Annexation Negotiation Committee Co-Chair, said it was far too broad a generalization to say that this signaled that the city was taking steps to limit future suburban growth.
He said this particular annexation would have added only an additional year of land supply to the city’s amount.
“I think the reasons to move forward on it had merit because it was supposed to cost the city nothing. It was supposed to align with other infrastructure that we had already paid for,” Spencer told LiveWire Calgary.
Then, as they continued their investigation into the additional work that could be required to bring this parcel online, it didn’t add up.
“It started to become obvious that the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze, so to speak,” Spencer said.
Land is still in play for future annexation
Don Waldorf, a Foothills County Councillor and the annexation group’s co-chair, said they agreed with the decision.
“Foothills County supports The City of Calgary’s decision not to proceed with the annexation at this time,” he said.
“We value our strong relationship with Calgary and at such time as The City decides that they would like to undertake a more comprehensive annexation, we will be prepared to come to the table once again, ready to negotiate the terms of an annexation agreement.”
Spencer said that the process became more difficult as more landowners wanted in on the annexation. In the end, it made more sense to wait until such time as a bigger annexation negotiation could happen, he said.
“Through that whole process, which is quite intensive, it makes more sense to look at a bigger piece of land,” Spencer said.
More information on the planned Foothills Annexation can be found here.
Here’s a document that shows the land as part of a longer-term growth plan for the City of Calgary.
