Edmonton wants to annex 15,600 hectares of Leduc County, including airport

 EDMONTON – The City of Edmonton is negotiating with Leduc County to annex 15,600 hectares of land south of the city, including the international airport.

Mayor Stephen Mandel made the announcement Tuesday after city council voted 12 to one in favour. Councillor Linda Sloan was opposed.

Mandel said the additional land will give the city enough land to support 30 to 35 years of growth. The land will be used for both residential and industrial development, with large industrial areas surrounding the airport.

“We are an industrial region and the city needs to have that industrial land,” Mandel said.

The annexation would not include Nisku and will be mainly limited to agricultural land. Mandel said the city has been quietly negotiating with Leduc County since last April. They will now complete formal negotiations and then bring the proposal to the Municipal Government Board.

Mandel said he expects that process to take about a year.

In the past, some have questioned Edmonton’s growth, saying the constant expansion in the suburbs is leading to urban sprawl – an expensive and not environmentally sustainable practice.

Mandel defended that growth.

“The City of Edmonton is a contiguous community that continues to grow to deal with the realities of what our housing mix is in the City of Edmonton. We’re not Vancouver; we’re not New York City,” he said. “We’re a city where people want to be able to live in a single-family environment or a multi-family complex. We have to offer different kinds of products and we’re pushing up at our borders at the south end of the city.

“We need to be able to ensure the long-term stability and success of our city.”

More to come …