Grande Prairie Minute: Issue 70

Grande Prairie Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Grande Prairie politics

📅 This Week In Grande Prairie: 📅

• This afternoon, at 3:00 pm, there will be a meeting of City Council. A resident has requested to speak at the meeting about a proposal to encourage increased ridership on GP Transit. The resident hopes Council will direct City staff to gather information and develop a specific proposal focused on publicizing bus ridership to boost transit use. Another resident will address Council regarding fluoride, and another will present engagement strategies for Council to consider.
  
  
• Also during the Council meeting, there will be a Public Hearing to gather feedback on rezoning 2.5 hectares of land to allow for commercial development. The land in question is located at the intersection of 108th Street and Pinnacle Drive, directly north of the Pinnacle Ridge neighbourhood. It is surrounded by industrial development to the north, future business industrial areas to the west, and low-density residential development to the south. The proposal also includes removing a portion of Municipal Reserve land to provide additional access points to the development, while retaining most park space and natural buffers. A traffic impact assessment suggests that road upgrades, including new turn lanes and a relocated crosswalk, will be necessary to manage increased traffic and must be completed before development proceeds. Public engagement highlighted concerns about preserving parkland, traffic safety, and compatibility with nearby residential areas, with some conditional support for the commercial use if buffering and access controls are included.
  
  
• The City is expanding its 2025 property assessment canvassing to include more neighbourhoods. Crews have been working since May to update property records, focusing on exterior changes that may affect assessments. This year, the City has added Coachman Village and Southview Point to its inspection list. Additionally, assessors will take exterior photos of residential properties in Kensington and Royal Oaks. Residents in these areas can expect to see assessors starting around the end of July or early August. All assessors will be travelling in clearly marked City vehicles and will carry official identification. The goal is to ensure property tax assessments reflect accurate, up-to-date records for tax purposes.
  
  
• Grande Prairie experienced a notable rise in home sales and prices in June, according to the Alberta Real Estate Association. The number of properties sold increased by 23.7% compared to the previous year, reaching 167 sales. The sales-to-new-listings ratio more than doubled, rising by 102%. The average home price climbed 18% to $390,448, with semi-detached homes seeing a 28% price increase and detached homes up by 20%. Grande Prairie is also experiencing a significant rise in housing starts in 2025, with 235 new starts so far - an increase of 112% compared to the same period in 2024. This growth places Grande Prairie among three mid-sized Alberta communities showing notable increases, alongside Lethbridge and Red Deer. Across Alberta, housing starts are up 30% year-over-year, with nearly 28,000 new units begun in the first half of the year, representing about a quarter of all housing starts in Canada.
  
  
• A medical camp for youth took place in Grande Prairie, giving 50 students from across the Peace Region hands-on experience in medicine. The Asclepius Medical Camp for Youth is led by students from the University of Alberta’s medical program. It’s aimed at encouraging students in Grades 9 to 12, especially those from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds, to consider careers in healthcare. Camp participants learned basic clinical skills like suturing and working through medical scenarios. The camp comes shortly before the launch of the new Northern Alberta Medical Program, which will welcome its first 30 students in August. That program will be based in Grande Prairie as well, and is part of a broader effort to expand access to medical education and services in the north. Organizers hope both initiatives will inspire the next generation of physicians.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

If you already know you can’t vote in-person in the October 20th municipal election, you can request a Special Ballot starting August 1st, as long as you're on the Permanent Elector Register.

Completed ballots must be received by 7:00 pm on Election Day, October 20th.

More information is available at the link below:

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

This week's sponsor is you! We don't have big corporate backers, so if you like what you're reading, please consider making a donation or signing up as a monthly member.

Having said that, if you are a local business and are interested in being a sponsor, send us an email and we'll talk!