Alberta's windy city is looking to blow more business activity into its west side.
The City of Lethbridge is in the process of crafting what's been dubbed as the West Lethbridge Employment Centre area structure plan.
The plan area would take in mostly undeveloped lands in the northern section of West Lethbridge. The city would be a key player in the development of the area because of the highly fragmented land ownership (roughly 100 owners in the planning area).
West Lethbridge, situated west of the 100-metre-deep Oldman River valley, is the newest section of the city, but also became its third-most-populous in 2009. Lethbridge's official population cracked 86,000 in 2010, with West Lethbridge's permanent population reaching 31,400 - a figure that doesn't include university students that aren't permanent residents. The University of Lethbridge is the only major employment centre on the west side of the city. The city's south side is its commercial centre, while its north side is home to its largest industrial employers such as food processors.
City officials are looking for a west-side area structure plan that would accommodate light and medium industrial development, highway commercial land, business and research parks and further residential development for a section of the city that only goes back about 40 years.
It's expected a plan for the area would go before city council in late 2010.
from Western Investor, October 2010
