County residents and landowners seem mostly happy with the proposed development plan for the Highway II corridor. They were able to explore the plan and ask questions in an open house at the Ponoka County office on April 3.
As 24 residents wandered in and out of the informal open house, errors in the plan were ironed out and ideas to extend the areas involved were brought forth, says consulting planner Bob Riddett.
“There were some changes that were recommended and they’ll be changed in the draft,” said assistant county CAO Tom Webber.
County resident Carlo Vleeming attended the event to get in on the plan and hopefully annex some property for commercial use and further development. “It’s good for everyone, industrial brings people.”
“The idea of this is to give landowners and their neighbours (a look at) what would be involved if they decided to develop,” said Riddett.
Highlighted in the plan are five areas along Highway II, each planted at an important intersection. Beginning at the south end of the county there’s land ripe for development northwest of the Secondary Highway 605, in a 360 degree area surrounding the Matejka Road intersection, northwest, southwest and southeast of Highway 53, completely surrounding Menaik Road intersection and the southern half of Highway 611.
“Ideally, it’ll look like the west end of Drayton Valley,” said Riddett.
As the open house progressed, Riddett found people were apprehensive about landscaping and development standards that would be put in place. “You want it to look good from the highway.”
He thinks Ponoka would be able to model their development areas after Drayton Valley and Lacombe and achieve positive results.
Along with allowing local businesses and landowners to develop, designated and encouraged development in the area will attract outside industry.
“A lot of industries, especially oilfield industries, are fairly footloose,” said Riddett. They’ll look at locations with good access, paved roads without too many bans in the spring, as well as places for workers to live.
Another important factor is land values. “Out here the land values aren’t nearly as high as Nisku or Devon,” said Riddett.
With lower prices, Ponoka will draw smaller oilfield companies that can’t afford $1 million on a quarter section, and the county could potentially end up competing with similar communities such as Lacombe, says Riddett. “Every town is doing this. The demand seems to be there.”
Having the land developed will also benefit landowners. “The land is worth a lot more for industrial use than it is for agriculture,” said Riddett.
He says a farm’s worth is based on the yield it produces each year and oilfield companies are willing to pay much more for the land than what the yield would produce.
Bringing in oilfield companies would also mean a larger tax base for the county. “They put up a million dollar building there and the county collects several thousand more in taxes each year,” said Riddett.
He projects, within the next 5 to 20 years, conventional oilfields will become exhausted and abandoned and companies will look to use other lands.
While there were some concerns expressed about this development plan not being compatible with farming operations and would take good farmland, Webber says most people felt the development plan was better than nothing in terms of providing guidance for the area. “The response was fairly positive.”