Plans to expand the East Vistas defeated at first reading

LEDUC COUNTY -- Leduc County has voted down plans to expand the western boundary of the East Vistas.

The plans were first brought forward in December 2025 as part of a development application which sought to expand the East Vistas' boundary by 20.9 hectares to the west to allow for new urban residential development. At their regular meeting on June 23, 2026, County Council voted against the plans due to various factors, such as compounded issues around servicing in the steadily growing area. 

Senior Planner Dave Desimone indicated in his presentation to Council that allowing this residential expansion would have required Leduc County to allocate funding for new transit services and increased bylaw enforcement resources. He also noted that an expansion of this nature would have also resulted in increased demand for recreational services, fire services, while also creating the possibility of increased policing costs.

"All those types of services that we've been discussing as of late, that are associated with an urban residential style development, this would represent an increase in those services," said Desimone. "This is the reason for administration's recommendation." 

Leduc County staff recommended against the plans due to the impact it would have had on the overall urban servicing demand for the region. This comes as the East Vistas is already the fastest growing area of the rural county in terms of population, with additional servicing anticipated in the coming years. Councillor Kelly-Lynn Lewis also expressed concerns relating to potential land-use conflicts. 

"I will not support first reading," said Councillor Lewis. "Knowing that we've paused further development in this area, and to expand this far west into an industrial area, I don't agree with it. I think right now we need to continue on our path to evaluate what makes sense for Leduc County."

At their meeting on Feb. 24, Leduc County administration brought forward recommendations to consider the designation of a "special study area" for the segment of the East Vistas located south of Township Road 505, with the goal to examine how future growth should proceed. Since 2022, the area has seen a significant increase in subdivision development which has caused the county to reconsider how growth should move forward.

"The county is not a city," said Tanni Doblanko, Mayor of Leduc County. "The county is somewhat in the urban development business -- but we need to seriously consider if that's how we want to continue to develop our county."