The City of Calgary will no longer be proceeding with a plan to annex Foothills County land into city limits.
“Calgary city council recently approved a recommendation from administration to immediately withdraw from the process of annexing Foothills County lands into the City of Calgary,” a news release said.
Calgary has sufficient land within current boundaries for its growth for the next 35 to 49 years, the city release said.
Earlier this year, Calgary and Foothills County had been moving forward on the proposed land annexation. The two municipalities said in February they were hiring an independent third party to conduct engagement on the issue.
Calgary had been proposing to annex a block of about 415 acres on the city’s southwest side. The proposal was first put forward as a notice of motion in 2018 by then-councillor Diane Colley-Urquhart. In March 2021, council gave the go-ahead to proceed with the work on it. The land is part of the larger “Calgary Growth Area” identified in the 2017 Foothills County — City of Calgary Intermunicipal Development Plan.
On July 28, the city said the decision to drop the annexation was occurring after a first phase of public consultation was completed, along with a technical analysis of the proposed annexation area. A number of topics were explored, including servicing requirements in the area and development potential.
“We have decided that now is not the appropriate time to proceed with the annexation of these lands from Foothills County,” said Evan Spencer, Annexation Negotiation Committee (ANC) co-chair and Calgary councillor. “However, the city will continue to monitor its available land supply and will consider its need to pursue a more comprehensive annexation at a future date.”
Don Waldorf, ANC co-chair and Foothills County councillor, says the county agrees with the decision and is prepared to “come to the table” in the future if Calgary “would like to undertake a more comprehensive annexation.
-30
