NOVEMBER 2020
beaumont.ab.ca
Council’s economic development agenda delivering results for Beaumont by Mayor John Stewart Three years ago, Beaumont residents elected a council committed to the idea that things needed to change. While the steady stream of new residents reflects that Beaumont is a desirable community to live and raise a family, it hasn’t always been perceived as a great place to do business. That’s started to change and we’re now seeing results with noteworthy growth in our non-residential tax base in recent years and more opportunities ahead. The community used to have a reputation for making it hard for new businesses to set up shop. One of the consequences was a property tax base that remained heavily residential, at just under 94 per cent in 2017 with a non-residential assessment of only 6 per cent. By comparison, Edmonton’s tax base is about 75 per cent residential to 25 per cent non-residential. It simply is not sustainable. Growing our business community in Beaumont will help make sure our high standard of living can be affordable long into the future, bring more services for residents, and provide good paying jobs for our families. In the last three years, council has taken aggressive action on a number of initiatives and changes. Some were obvious, such as ELA, the autonomous shuttle on 50th Street
last year. Other changes have been more subtle, like streamlining our Land Use Bylaw from an overwhelming 37 separate zoning districts down to only seven. Today, our tax base sits at 92 per cent residential and 8 per cent non-residential, a change of 2 percentage points. That might not seem like a lot, but consider that it took place in a community with one of the fastest growing populations in the country. In fact, our non-residential tax base grew more than four times faster than our residential base. We’re moving in the right direction, but there’s still more to do. As a direct result of ELA putting Beaumont in the spotlight, council will be considering a proposal this fall from an international consortium looking to invest in and install a fibre-optic broadband network with the capacity to provide the highest speed internet service available commercially around the globe. Beaumont is also working with different levels of government and a number of private sector groups on some other exciting developments that may be coming to the forefront during the next months and in 2021. These changes are helping to make sure that Beaumont doesn’t just continue to be a great place to live and raise a family, but that it can also be a great place to work and do business.
5600 49 Street, Beaumont AB T4X 1A1 | 780.929.8782 | admin@beaumont.ab.ca
MAYOR AND COUNCIL CONTACT INFORMATION Mayor John Stewart 780.293.5650 Councillor Kathy Barnhart 780.721.5504 Councillor Bill Daneluik 587.357.5206 Councillor Perry Hendriks 780.929.5102 Councillor Sam Munckhof-Swain 780.690.0031 Councillor Martin Stout 780.904.9623 Councillor Steven vanNieuwkerk 780.991.0871 Email links for Mayor and Council are online at beaumont.ab.ca/council