According to last week’s article in the Chestermere Anchor the council is seeking residents feed-back on changing the official title of town to ‘city’.
The Town of Chestermere has prepared a list of frequently asked questions and answers regarding city status:
Why are you looking at becoming a city?
We believe it is in the best interest of the community to look at changing our status now to take advantage of the ‘city’ title and the economic benefits and influence, especially at a provincial level that comes with a status change.
In our province, a municipality must have over 10,000 residents in order to apply for city status. Chestermere reached that number in 2007 and continues to keep growing at a rapid pace. In fact, we are already larger than 4 cities in Alberta.
What changes if Chestermere becomes a city?
Becoming a city is essentially an administrative title change. There are no changes to the responsibilities, debts, agreements, costs to citizens or services that a municipality provides.
What are the benefits of changing Chestermere’s title to a ‘city’?
The largest benefit is that when a community takes the title of a ‘city’, it portrays a viable and developed community. This is particularly attractive to companies and investors who may look at bringing their businesses to Chestermere.
In the 2012 community survey, the #1 thing residents said would most improve their quality of life in Chestermere is more shopping/businesses. In addition to providing more options to residents, having more businesses in a community means more tax revenue from the business property taxes. This helps the community pay for amenities like pools and recreation centres, with less of a burden placed directly on residents.
In addition, there are over 100 ‘towns’ in Alberta. As a city, Chestermere could be 1 of 18 and may have more influence when asking the provincial government for services like schools and medical facilities.
What are the drawbacks to becoming a city?
Becoming a city is mostly a title change but there is a minor cost. There is no cost to make the application but there will be some administrative cost to change some signage and make some changes in official documents.
As a city, there may be pressure to provide more services over time but this is based on the population of the community, not its official title.
A fear that has been expressed is that changing our name to a city means that the community could lose its identity. Part of asking residents about becoming a city means asking how they think we can continue to keep Chestermere’s unique character, even as we grow and more people come to the community.
Do you have to become a city?
No. Any municipality can apply to become a city after reaching a population of 10,000, but some communities choose to remain a ‘town’. While we believe that this is a good time for our community to become a city, the input of our residents is an important part of the decision process.
What is the process for the change? Does the application cost anything?
If Council believes residents are generally in favor, they would make a motion to change our status and send it to the Minister of Municipal Affairs. He may do further consultation or require more information, and then the Lieutenant Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister, may order change the status. Other than staff time, there is no cost to make the application.
Now, I bet your wondering how exactly the residents of Chestermere would be able to express their opinions on this possible new development and here is how you can do just that:
August 23: Councilor’s Corner: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm at the Library.
August 26: Coffee & Conversation with Council: 2 – 4 at Starbucks (100 Marina Drive)
August 27: Tweetchat: 11 – 12 (@TownChestermere, #chestermerefuture)
August 30 – September 5: Comment Posters around the community.
Early September: information will be sent with CUI Utility Bills
September 8: Morning with the Mayor: 8:30 am – 10:00 am at Tim Hortons
September 10: Energizer Night
September 12 – 13: Fall Fair
September 15: Tweetchat (Time TBA)
September 18: Open House: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Town Hall.
More information is available at www.chestermere.ca/future and will be updated on an ongoing basis.
