BEAUMONT A ‘HIDDEN GEM’
Community is growing quickly but takes pains to retain its small-town allure
It sits on Edmonton’s southern boundary and, two years ago, more than doubled its total land mass through annexation.
That move, says Beaumont’s mayor John Stewart, allows this “hidden gem” of a community of more than 19,000 people — the fifth fastest growing in Canada — to project a population that could reach 60,000 by 2044.
This past January, the town with its French heritage, officially became a city — one currently hosting Canada’s first technology pilot of an autonomous (driverless) shuttle in mixed traffic use, with Pacific Western Transportation.
“It was a great opportunity to put Beaumont on the map,” Stewart says of the testing that will wrap up this October.
And in a community with a well-educated and young population (average age between 30 and 40 with more four-year-olds than seniors), he says Beaumont is primed for more business growth, including in the technology and knowledge-based sectors.
With the recent annexation of 3,360 acres of land added to its existing 2,560 acres, more than 1,000 acres has been targeted for business parks, light industrial areas and commercial growth. It is a big focus of city council, says Stewart, since 93 per cent of Beaumont’s current tax base comes from residential properties.
And while new business will bring more tax revenue, the mayor says it will also bring more opportunities for residents to live and work in the community. Currently 16 per cent of the population works in Beaumont, 78 per cent are commuters working in Edmonton, Leduc County, Nisku, or nine kilometres east of Beaumont at Edmonton International Airport.
Beaumont is also opening a co-working space, in its Centre-ville downtown, to help grow the large number of home-based businesses (300+) in the city. These local businesses will also be able to tap into a municipal business development program.
And while the small-town feel, so close to the big city (15 to 20 minutes to downtown Edmonton), is a big draw, Beaumont offers its young families good schools, 28 kilometres of connecting trails and an expansion this year to its aqua-fit centre, adding a hockey rink, indoor field house, gymnasium, climbing wall and suspended running track.
With continued population growth in a city where currently 74 per cent of residents own their own homes, the remainder of the annexed lands will see residential/ housing development, along with infrastructure and park amenities.
The first and biggest residential project on the annexed lands will be Elan, from Dream Developments, a 1,280-acre neighbourhood, which will eventually be home to more than 8,300 households (or about 20,000 people) making it the largest development — and first mixed-use community — in Beaumont’s history.
Stewart says the city just rewrote of its land-use bylaws, to encourage mixed-use neighbourhoods while allowing Beaumont to retain its small-town feel. “It is still a place where everyone knows their neighbour — there’s the joke that you can get anywhere in Beaumont in five minutes.”