Government officials are trying to find the best way to deal with Fort McMurray’s housing crunch. Last month, Municipal Affairs asked the RMWB to help it pinpoint where to expand the Urban Service Area through a land release policy.
“It will also help them target where that land will be required. Is it all going to be Fort McMurray, or are we going to see more growth down in the Conklin area? So we can, from a regional perspective, start to target where our capital infrastructure goes,” said Executive Director of Planning and Development, Brian Moore.
The two governments will draft the policy regarding Alberta’s July 2013 promise of 55,000 acres of land to expand the USA boundaries. They will also look at population projections with the help of energy companies.
“We’re just working on a terms of reference for a tri-party working group to drive out these forecasting models that will tie into that land release strategy. So we can say in this time frame we’re going to need this much more land,” said Moore.
Moore says it will make the local housing market more affordable. According to the Fort McMurray Realtors Association, the average price of a single-family detached home was $705,000 last month.
