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By Curtis Galbraith

County Council approves new 50-year growth strategy

Mar 27, 2018 | 2:24 PM

An 18-month effort has led to a new development plan for the County of Grande Prairie.

Council approved a 50-year Growth and Economic Development Strategy at Monday’s meeting.

Manager of Economic Development Chris King says the County wants to be ready for future growth.

“Especially with all the indications of the growth of the Montney Basin. We wanted to make sure that we weren’t reacting to growth down the road, but rather starting to allocate areas for future industrial development that wouldn’t impinge on future growth of the residential growth that’s needed over the next 50 years.” 

The plan forecasts a population increase of almost 28,000 people in the County by 2066.

King says that projection is based on current growth rates and work has already started on where those people could live.

“We’ve got the expansion of Clairmont Heights, which would accommodate the majority of those people. We talked about how it’s a balanced growth approach, so it’s development kind of spread out through the County so there’s other areas of rural residential development in (the) Webster Hall area and (the) Saskatoon Mountain area, as well as adjacent to the other hamlets.”

The four main pillars of the strategy are investment attraction, diversification, sustainability, and collaboration.

King these were all important areas to focus on.

“The diversification of our economy is really what has helped us weather the last couple economic downturns. Through that diversification, we want to make sure we keep that diversified economic backbone for the region.”

King says the new strategy also has provisions to protect good agricultural land, something he describes as “a high priority for us. In fact, a lot of our work on Clairmont Heights was densification, trying to prevent the urban sprawl onto really good farmland.”

by Curtis Galbraith