Annexations

Recent annexation recommendations

• Summer Village of Ghost Lake annexation recommendation
• Town of Bowden annexation recommendation

Overview of the annexation process

Annexation occurs when a municipality expands its boundary to include land from a neighbouring municipality – for example, to accommodate growth, improve administrative efficiency or to serve some other municipal objective. The annexation process requires intermunicipal collaboration and community consultation, and is set out in Part 4, Division 6 of the Municipal Government Act.

The process begins with the municipality that wishes to acquire land (initiating municipality) submitting a Notice of Intent to the Land and Property Rights Tribunal (LPRT) and to the municipality from which the lands are proposed to be annexed (responding municipality). The 2 municipalities must then negotiate and/or mediate before submitting a final report and annexation application to the LPRT. The LPRT reviews the annexation for completeness, provides information and case management, and where necessary, conducts a public hearing before making a recommendation to the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

The Lieutenant Governor in Council makes the final annexation decision and implements it through an Order in Council.

Annexation resources

The annexation process and requirements are outlined in the following resources:

• Annexation Process Flowchart – explains each stage of the annexation process, from Notice to Intent to an Order in Council.
• Annexation Application Checklist – outlines the documents and materials to accompany an annexation application.
• Annexation Principles – Excerpt from City of St. Albert/Sturgeon County Annexation Board Order (MGB 123/06) – Landmark decision that established core criteria the Land and Property Rights Tribunal uses to assess annexations.
• Annexation Bulletin No. 1 – 2005 Assessment and Taxation (to be updated in 2026) – provides taxation and assessment approaches during annexations.
• Annexation Bulletin No. 2 – 2008 Annexation Crossing Primary (Provincial) Highways (to be updated in 2026) – provides guidance for annexation applications that cross provincial highway corridors.
• Annexation Procedure Rules – describes how annexation proceedings before the Land and Property Rights Tribunal are conducted.

Annexation recommendations listings

The following table lists annexation recommendations issued by the Land and Property Rights Tribunal (formerly the Municipal Government Board), under the Municipal Government Act. These recommendations inform the Government of Alberta’s final decisions on the proposed municipal boundary changes.

Only annexations that required a public hearing (contested annexations) held by the Land and Property Rights Tribunal and resulted in an annexation recommendation by the Tribunal are listed below.

All approved annexations (including those that did not require a Land and Property Rights Tribunal public hearing, otherwise known as uncontested annexations) are finalized through an Order in Council, available on the King’s Printers website.

Table 1. Contested annexation recommendations issued by the Land and Property Rights Tribunal.