Leduc completes opening round of public engagement for proposed annexation

LEDUC -- The City of Leduc has completed the opening round of public consultation for its municipal boundary expansion.

The engagement sessions, which were held on Jan. 28 and 29, offered residents and affected landowners an opportunity to learn more about the City's annexation plans and to express their thoughts and concerns. This comes as Leduc is looking to annex a portion of Leduc County lands to the south, and southeast of the municipality, in order to facilitate the needs of the growing City.

Leduc Mayor Lars Hansen and Director of Planning and Economic Development Teaka Broughm spoke with 93.1 The One during the open house on the evening of Jan. 29 to unpack the process the municipality has undertaken in regards to their municipal boundary expansion. Broughm says that the concept of annexation was considered after analyzing the City's needs to establish long-term land supply for the rapidly growing community.

"One of the best practices is making sure you have about a fifty-year land supply, so you can make better long-term decisions around where to put infrastructure and what size that infrastructure should be," said Broughm. "We started work looking at our land supply in 2023, 2024, and then by mid-2024 we had conversations with Council about our land supply being too low. It wasn't until 2025 that we submitted our intent to annex."

The three-year process for annexation also includes various technical studies that remain underway at this time. These studies look at things like environmentally sensitive areas, such as wetlands, topography, agriculture, and potential development restraints. The studies also consider exactly how much land the City will need as part of the process, a fiscal impact analysis, and servicing and transportation.

Also, part of the process will be upcoming negotiations with Leduc County. At the time that the annexation plans were first announced in early 2025, County Mayor Tanni Doblanko expressed dissatisfaction with the move, saying her municipality was not properly consulted prior to the notice of intent being issued. Despite this, Leduc Mayor Lars Hansen insists the City is committed to good faith negotiations with the County.

"We have an ongoing relationship with the County," said Mayor Hansen. "I would also say that the relationship between the City of Leduc and Leduc County is based on more than just annexation -- we have multiple, positive agreements with Leduc County. We look forward to sitting down at some point with Leduc County and discussing annexation." 

At this past week's public engagement sessions for County residents located within the affected annexation area, reactions were mixed as residents continue to learn more about the process while seeking answers on various items.

"I moved out to the country to be a part of the country -- not a part of the city," said one of the residents at the Jan. 29 engagement session. "I'm not sure. There are so many questions that we haven't had answered yet, and one of them is taxation. If you're going to take a property like we have -- or other neighbours -- are we going to pay taxes in proportion to everyone else? And who is going to provide our infrastructure? Who's going to take care of our roads, who is going to take care of all of that stuff. There's just a lot of questions and no answers yet." 

The issue of crime also came up with another resident at the session, as they expressed concern that the affected annexation area could inherit an increased amount of disorder if it becomes a part of the City of Leduc.

"So, you're going to keep bringing the city this way, and the homeless are going to keep moving towards my place," said the homeowner. "We already have a theft problem in the County. It takes half an hour, 45 minutes, for the cops to get out there. We got broken into a couple years ago and it took them 45 minutes to get there."

In terms of other issues, one of the couples attending the engagement session expressed their concerns relating to future development, should the area officially become a part of the City of Leduc. 

"You don't want a development next to you -- whether it's commercial or a subdivision in your backyard -- all that kind of stuff. We're quite far out, so it’s not really that big of a concern today," said the male resident. His partner shared similar concerns.

"But eventually it might be," said the female resident. "I just don't want to be smack-dab in the middle of a Nisku."

In the coming months, the City of Leduc will be hosting the final two public engagement sessions for its annexation plans, while also sitting down with Leduc County to discuss the matter further. For next year, the plans are expected to come before Leduc City Council, and if approved, an application will be submitted to the Land and Property Rights Tribunal (LPRT).