By Ian Gustafson

Year ahead

Year in Review: Blackfalds Mayor Hoover calls for community to embrace growth

Dec 31, 2024 | 8:03 AM

The 2024 season has come and gone for the Town of Blackfalds but plenty of progress has been made over the past year.

Mayor Jamie Hoover described it as a transformative year for the town, not just in how they’ve prepared themselves for future growth, but in interest from developers and builders and starting more construction in both the residential and commercial sectors.

Hoover explained, this year, the town grew slightly slower than the rest of the province but added, he expects a turnaround in the new year if the construction and permits they’ve seen drawn this year, indicates rapid growth.

“We approved already our development plan for subdivisions and we’ve received applications for a couple more. For the Town of Blackfalds, that’s the most that we’ve seen since I believe 2016,” he said.

“At that point we had an 11 per cent growth rate so the fact we’re seeing developments for that kind of growth again means that we’re going to have to strategize about how we can support that type of growth.”

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Town council he said, has done some great work in making sure their planning is done in a more effective way. This will mark their first full year with CAO Kim Isaac after the former CAO stepped away after nearly a decade in the role.

He said council this year has also proven its ability to work together and achieve results more effectively.

“They set the tone, so getting a new CAO for us was a learning curve and it took Kim a while to integrate herself into the community and she’s doen some great work with the municipality and council,” Hoover said.

“We’ve done some creative and some new planning and strategizing which we’re seeing the results start to come from that. I think that’s a positive thing because in a community that’s changing quickly, it could easily turn poorly if people aren’t on the same page.”

Among the highlights for Hoover includes the opening of Blackfalds new high school in September – Iron Ridge Secondary Campus.

Approximately 300 Grade 9 to 11 students attend the school with Grade 12 students expected in the 2025-26 school year. It marked the first high school to be built in the community.

“People quite often point out there’s a significant list of things that aren’t in Blackfalds that are in other communities that are even smaller than us, and a high school was one of them,” he said.

“A few years ago we hit the milestone of 10,000 and now we’re over 11,000 in terms of population. To not have a high school was an unusual thing so it was huge for our community.”

Keeping on the theme of schools, they also broke ground on their new kindergarten to Grade 5 school called St. Veronica Catholic School. It’s expected to open its doors in the fall of 2027.

In addition, the Border Paving Plaza just outside the Eagle Builders Centre officially opened in 2024 after it was delayed for multiple years. He described it as their version of a town square where the community can come together.

Next year marks the municipal election and Hoover said they hope to address a few items before then including senior housing needs with the province.

He also hopes to continue regional partnerships and collaboration with other local municipalities. Historically, that’s hasn’t always been the case but collaboration with other communities is important to Hoover.

“The overall message is that things are changing and that we do our best to make sure that it’s as smooth as possible but that’s going to be a theme in our community over the next few years.”