Wheatland County Community and Development Services department had a very productive year in 2022, receiving and processing a total of 273 development permits.
This was the busiest year the department has ever had, and the county is anticipating 2023 will be even busier as these projects move through the development approval process.
“Over the last two years we saw quite a dramatic increase in development permits. More than we’ve ever seen since 2007,” shared Community and Development Services manager Diane Bodie during the regular Tuesday, February 7 council meeting.
She explained this included 13 development permits for new commercial or industrial developments, and four permits for “major additions or expansions'' to existing businesses in these sectors. This included an addition of a public gym to a school, three restaurants and three cannabis stores, along with new housing and farm buildings for an area Hutterite colony, and a substantial increase in housing development in the Lakes of Muirfield.
There were also eight permits for home-based businesses.
Ms. Bodie noted these were not typical home-based businesses administration normally sees, such as accounting or tax based businesses, and included machine shops as a home-based business.
Planning and development are also working with De Havilland and CGC regarding their major projects which were announced earlier in 2022; both projects are “in the early stages” of the development permit process.
