A 25-year plan to develop 659 acres of land that would expand Chestermere to Calgary’s city limit will not affect “the character and uniqueness” of the community, according to its mayor.
The plan was approved by city council earlier this month and would see significant commercial and residential development in and around an area north of Chestermere Boulevard and west of Rainbow Road. Officials estimate that around 14,000 new residents will call the city home by the time the project is complete.
“Fourteen-thousand additional people is a big number, but we’ve be planning for our future for a long time,” Chestermere Mayor Patricia Matthews said in an interview on Wednesday.
“The flavour of what Chestermere is today, that unique recreation oasis, is still going to be reflected, not only with those next 14,000, but those next 40,000.”
The plan includes 73 acres for a commercial district, around 4,300 residential units and three new schools. Matthews added that developers will work to ensure wetlands in the area are preserved.
Officials are also consulting with the City of Calgary to make sure infrastructure plans along the two city limits are aligned.
Chestermere is already one of the country’s fastest-growing municipalities. The population grew from just under 15,000 residents in 2011 to almost 20,000 in 2016, according to Statistics Canada.
READ MORE: Census 2016: Population of metropolitan Calgary outpaced Canada’s growth rate
Resident Pauline Jackson moved to the community from England 37 years ago, when only a few hundred people called Chestermere home. She said population growth has changed the city’s dynamics in both positive and negative ways.
“We moved here because it was a quiet little village,” Jackson said.
“If I don’t like it, it’s still not going to hold it back… so I guess that’s the way it goes. It will be very different.”
Change likely won’t happen immediately. City officials said, if all goes to plan, construction on the new development likely wouldn’t start for a few more years.
Comments