The Town of Penhold is expanding, as the province recently approved their annexation application of eight quarter sections of land from Red Deer County.

This will effectively double the size of the town, and push their boundaries north and east towards highway 2, something Mayor Michael Yargeau says will make the area a prime spot for new business.

“It is for the future there is a little bit of everything, but it really opens us up to a lot more commercial opportunities. We’re pushing closer to highway 2, which is one of the busiest corridors around, and it gives us that access. So any business that is looking to set up shop with highway access, Penhold is now accepting development opportunities.”

Yargeau goes on to say that the yearlong process went very smoothly between Penhold and the County, and was met with no objections from landowners in the area.

He says this will aid in Penhold's growth for the foreseeable future.

“We are covered for the future of Penhold. On top of this annexation, at the same time we also went through and developed an inter-municipal development plan with Red Deer County, that sort of sets out how we will grow even in the future, even past the annexation. As far as our growth potential and opportunities, we’ve really done great work in setting up how we are going to grow in the future and working with Red Deer County to make that possible too.”

The province also approved an annexation application from the Town of Bowden for 200 acres of land from Red Deer County to the southwest of the community.