As of January 1, 2025, The Town of Bentley has annexed land from Lacombe County.
In Alberta, annexation is normally intended to provide additional land supply for an urban municipality to grow.
Annexation does not change the ownership of land. The landowners continue to own their property, but the property is now within the boundaries of another municipality.
In this case, Lacombe County’s bylaws no longer apply to the subject lands, as they are now within the Town of Bentley, subject to the Town’s regulations.
While the Town of Bentley has undeveloped lands identified for future residential development, it did not have space to attract new forms of commercial or industrial development required for the Town to diversify its tax based and support residential growth. The Town has been working with the County collaboratively since 2021 on the Town of Bentley / Lacombe County Joint Economic Development Initiative.
This annexation has minimal financial impact to Lacombe County. The subject lands are agricultural and do not generate high tax revenue for the County. Further, the County has a high inventory of industrial, business industrial, and commercial land elsewhere that will continue to attract investment.
**With information provided by Lacombe County