Strathcona County has always been a strong regional partner including being a member of the Capital Region Board, established on April 15, 2008 which consisted of 24 mayors and reeves from the 24 municipalities in the Alberta Capital Region. The Board was created to jointly develop a long-range regional growth management plan.

The next evolution of this regional Board was established on October 26, 2017 when the Government of Alberta approved the new Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board AR 189/2017. This new regulation was completed in consultation with Capital Region Board member municipalities.  A mirror regulation was also approved for the Calgary region, requiring that Calgary Metropolitan Region municipalities also form a growth management board. 

A key change to this new regulation included a reduced number of member municipalities, from 24 to 13. Current Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board members now include all rural municipalities that are adjacent to the large urban municipality, Edmonton, and all urban municipalities with more than 5,000 citizens. In addition to the requirement of a growth plan a new servicing plan will also be required by the Board, which will help to identify services required to support the goals of the growth plan and implement as necessary.

 

 

Mayor Rod Frank represents Strathcona County as a member of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board. Councillor Robert Parks is the alternate member.

Chief Commissioner Darrel Reid sits on the CAO Standing Committee to provide senior administrative input to support Board decision-making.

Learn more about the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board 

Edmonton Metropolitan Region Growth Plan

Consistent between both regulations is the requirement of the creation of a regional growth plan to be reviewed and updated at regular intervals. The first Capital Region Growth Plan was approved and implemented in 2010. As per the regulation this growth plan was required to be updated in 5 years. Through the direction of the Growth Plan Update Task Force an updated plan was completed and approved by the Capital Region Board in October 2015. The Edmonton Metropolitan Region Growth Plan was approved by the Government of Alberta on October 30, 2017. This award-winning plan represents a more integrated plan for the region and is in alignment with the new Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board Regulation; providing a 50-year vision for the region. The plan consists of six policy areas:

• Economic Competitiveness and Employment (new for the updated growth plan)
• Natural Living System
• Communities and Housing
• Integration of Land Use and Infrastructure
• Transportation Systems
• Agriculture (new for the updated growth plan)

Learn more about the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Growth Plan, including the full document www.emrb.ca/growth-plan

Edmonton Global

Through the direction of the Capital Region Board a regional economic development entity was incubated, with the intention that this entity be completely separate once established. On June 9, 2017 a regional economic development company was incorporated. Now known as Edmonton Global, this company was established through the guidance of 15 member municipalities as Shareholders of the company. The company’s vision is that the Edmonton Metropolitan Region is a business location of choice for global investment, collaboratively built on regional assets. Through consultation with municipalities and regional economic development agencies, three key outcomes were identified for the company: a regional brand, regional database and regional economic development strategy.

Strathcona County is a founding Shareholder of this company and Mayor Rod Frank is appointed as the Elected Representative and has the authority to vote on behalf of Strathcona County at any meeting of Shareholders.

Learn more about Edmonton Global www.edmontonglobal.ca