Penhold council has accepted a land supply and growth potential study that shows the town could need to annex more industrial and residential land before 30 years is up.
Council accepted the land supply and growth potential study during its June 11 meeting. At the May17 meeting councillors rejected a study's numbers because they felt it didn't anticipate a high enough population growth rate.
Planner Jolene Tejkl of Parkland Community Planning Services said Penhold's growth rate has “been growing faster than the Alberta average.”
Tejkl said this time she used a growth rate of 3.23 per cent annually for her baseline projections. Those numbers showed by 2042 there could be 6,363 people living in Penhold. She said that would mean approximately another 1,477 dwelling units would be needed.
If the numbers hold true, Tejkl said there would be enough residential land until 2039 but after that more land would be needed. For commercial land she said more would be needed after 2036.
“Industrial land is a different story – we got lots,” Tejkl said.
The new study uses a 2.56 per cent annual growth rate as the low projection. That percentage was the baseline projection in the original study presented in May. It shows the population of Penhold growing to a potential 5,200 by 2042.
The high annual growth rate used by Tejkl is 4.57 per cent, which would mean a population of 9,490 by 2042.
Tejkl said the new Oxford Landing Outline Plan had not been considered as part of the study as the plan hadn't been approved before that day's council meeting.
Council accepted the land supply and growth potential study as a general guide for the future projections of land needs and population levels.
