City land department manager Randi Bruckner discusses plans for the department over the next two-year budget during a special session of council on Wednesday afternoon.--News Photo Collin Gallant
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Medicine Hat will see slower than average population growth compared to the rest of Alberta for the foreseeable future, which administrators say could necessitate a shift for the city’s land office, potentially switching it from bringing new land to market to readying redevelopment projects for the private sector.
That could also once again set the stage to discuss large parcel sales to private sector, but councillors told a budget session Tuesday that “balance is needed” in the land department’s mission.
“It’s not mean to be pessimistic, but it’s to have an eyes-wide open approach to land development,” said land office manager Randi Bruckner during a special council session discussing the 2025-26 city budget.
New provincial population forecasts and internal city studies show the city may only grow to just 72,000 by 2046 – that is 9,000 fewer predicted 10 years ago by the same point in time.
That has implications for new residential construction – which is already underserved – but also commercial (oversupplied at present) and industrial subdivisions.
“Our decisions and forward strategy need to be informed by their numbers as we’re looking at residential, commercial and industrial land development and how it proceeds,” said Bruckner, who plans to bring a new strategy for council approval in the spring of 2025.
Coun. Darren Hirsch said the department has often been criticized by the private sector for skewing the local market with an oversized position.
“There are people who say to me, let them do residential,” he told council, wondering aloud if the department is capable of bringing a new large subdivision to market.
“The challenge is finding a sweet spot between not dominating the market, but working complimentary to developers … we need to decide what land we want to keep, and what we don’t for our material needs.”
Ten years ago the land department responded to criticism that it dominated the market with new price-updating policy and a goal of controlling no more than half the lots on the market.
Over time, with fewer lots coming on, even slower sales have reduced the city position on lots to just 20 per cent today.
Coun. Robert Dumanowski said with only 72 lots in the city portfolio at present, the department is already operating differently from when it brought several hundred lots onto the market annually in early 2000s.
He said council should resist a sell-off of publicly owned land in the name of economic development.
“My worry is that in a depressed market, when we’re desperate to get numbers on a chart, we’re reducing prices and calling that a strategy,” Dumanowski told council.
“Nobody argues it’s a balancing act, but for me, if we have to hold we hold … but also, not afraid to be strategic in our risk taking.”
Couns. Allison Knodel and Ramona Robins both said neither of the two extremes – a pure profit motivation or using the land bank for social enterprise, such as low-cost housing development – seemed prudent.
A provincial projection released last summer could see growth in the Hat hover around 0.5 per cent annually for the next 15 years.
That raises questions about the work plan in the department, the need to set aside new housing plans and public involvement.
“Are we a competitor, or are we there to support (the private sector), that’s something that we have to address in the land strategy,” said Bruckner of a scheduled report due in the spring of 2025.
Traditionally, the city has earned its largest profits on developing bare land into serviced lots, resulting in $27 million paid to the city since 2008.
The proposed 2025-26 budget forecasts gross profit of $4 million over the next two years, but no new projects.
“Our proposed budget this year is statutes quo,” said Buckner. “A reset in strategy is well underway towards being part of a sustainable future.”
