Olds town council has approved an area structure plan (ASP) for a big chunk of land on the northeast side of Olds.
The 655-acre parcel of land is located north of Highway 27, east of Highway 2A. The eastern border is Range Road 12.
It was officially annexed from Mountain View County on Jan. 1, 2022.
As announced earlier, the goal is to encourage commercial development along the two highways and industrial development in the interior of the parcel.
That goal fits with the town's municipal development plan, which is aimed at diversifying Olds’ economic base by attracting a variety of businesses and creating an efficient infrastructure system.
Council approved the plan after a presentation by Andrea Rudiger and Troy McNeill of McElhanney Consulting, who studied the area and came up with a plan for it.
Municipal land use planner Kyle Sloan said planning staff had been working with McElhanney Consulting on the project for the past year.
Sloan said a key aspect of the plan is to ensure the town has “a sufficient inventory of developable industrial land for the foreseeable future.”
Rudiger said in addition to the overall vision for commercial and industrial properties, the plan also includes provisions for access roads and the development of water infrastructure, including a watermain and stormwater ponds.
The report also recommended setting up a sanitary sewer system separate from the current town system due to the topography of the land; that it slopes from west to east.
Wastewater would be conveyed by gravity eastward to a new lift station.
Rudiger said local and private roads for the area would be determined later.
She said McElhanney Consulting conducted several public engagement sessions online and in person to get input from residents on a plan for the land.
Rudiger said through those engagement sessions, concerns emerged about how entryways into the property would work, how infrastructure would be set up and the impact of development there on the environment.
She said it’s anticipated that commercial development would occur first, but noted that that would depend on whether there’s more interest in that type of development or industrial development.
Sloan echoed that thought.
“This is a plan where we try to leave it as open and flexible as possible, based on us wanting to be able to adapt to investors, both industrial and commercial, as they come to us,” he said.
Sloan said most industrial investors that the town’s planning department hears from are in the ag tech sector.
He said that’s likely because in Olds they can “take advantage not only of the agricultural industry that is in the area, but also the college that has large partnership opportunities for research and things in that field.”
Coun. Dan Daley asked if town officials had reached out to Alberta Transportation (AT) representatives about the plan and if they had any concerns about it.
Sloan said yes, AT had been consulted.
He said one proposed road in the plan was changed, but that was due to input from residents, not AT. An east-west road was moved “to be less impactful,” because there’s currently a residential property there.
Daley provoked some laughter when he then asked, “so now, next step, implementation: Do we hang a big for sale sign on it now?”
“Essentially yes,” Sloan said.
He said now that an area structure plan for the area has been approved, municipal staff can work on attracting investors who may be interested in developing property there.
He noted that an ASP has to be in place before a subdivision can be developed.
During a public hearing on the matter, Brian West, a commercial real estate agent out of Calgary, addressed council.
Speaking on behalf of a potential property buyer, he supported the plan, but hoped there would be potential for residential property in the back half of the land.
“As far as the rest of it goes, we're very happy with the commercial and industrial,” West said.
