OLDS — A public hearing will be held Oct. 15 regarding a proposed plan for land the Town of Olds annexed from Mountain View County more than two-and-a-half years ago.
The hearing will begin at 1 p.m. that day in council chambers.
It’s regarding a bylaw setting up a proposed Northeast Area Structure Plan for the land.
The land in question is bordered by highways 2A and 27 as well as Range Road 13.
Council set the date, time and place for the hearing during its Sept. 9 meeting.
The land was formally turned over to the town from Mountain View County on Jan. 1, 2022.
For about a year, town staff have been working on the plan with McElhanney Consulting Services.
“For the most part, along the highways, the plan calls for highway commercial zoning and then the interior of the plan area would be industrial uses,” municipal land use planner Kyle Sloan said.
“The plan is not very prescriptive on the types of industrial uses, but it is intended to provide a longer-term inventory of industrial land over the next several decades.”
Years ago, town officials said the municipality needed to annex the land in order to plan for and attract commercial and industrial development.
It said the amount of available land for those purposes had dropped to “a 20-year supply when the impact of lands not available to the market is taken into account.”
As a result, the town officials said the amount of industrial land and the location of that land is becoming tighter and tighter for prospective investors.
Sloan said the McElhanney reps are expected to attend the Oct. 15 hearing to explain the plan in more depth.
