Tantus Completes Tri-Municipal Regional Plan Review
The Beginning
In February 2018, the Government of Canada announced the phase out of traditional coal-fired electricity generation by 2030.
In conjunction with this announcement, the federal government committed $35 million over five years for skills development and economic diversification for affected communities.
This presented an opportunity for the Tri-Municipal Region (The City of Spruce Grove, The Town of Stony Plain and Parkland County) to seek funding to develop the Tri-Municipal Regional Plan (TMRP). Funding was secured from Western Economic Diversification in early 2019.
Later in 2019, the three municipalities committed to the development of a new Regional Plan.
The Tri-Municipal Regional Plan (TMRP) was envisioned to be a document that will “improve governance, service delivery, fiscal capacity, and economic prosperity for the benefit of the citizens of the sub-region”.
Our Work
In Late 2019, Tantus Solutions Group was selected as the Integration consultant tasked with delivering this plan. The Tantus team comprised of Dave McGarva, Tony Schiebel, Peter Tarnawsky, Grant Gabert, Evan Robertson and a small engineering team from Scheffer Andrew Ltd.
The Tantus team worked with all three municipalities to release a total of 8 RFP’s for secondary consultants who had expertise in the following areas:
1. Competitiveness Strategy
2. Economic Development Strategy
3. Housing Strategy
4. Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Strategy
5. Land Use Strategy
6. Social Development Strategy
7. Cultural Strategy
8. Recreational Strategy
In additional to a current state report as well as a comprehensive Municipal Services Strategy, Tantus was instrumental in assisting and working with the secondary consultants to ensure all the strategies aligned across all 3 municipalities. Tantus then took all the secondary strategies and compiled them into an integrated report that provided recommendations and areas of future investment for the municipalities to consider.
Tantus completed the delivery of the final report in June 2021 and presented to all 3 Councils. The report was well received and plans are in place to begin the implementation of several of the recommendations.
You can find the results of this work here:
What Partners are Saying
“I'd like to pass along my gratitude to Dave McGarva and the team at Tantus. Dave and his team were flexible and adaptable throughout the project and it's much appreciated. We know we picked the right partner (in Tantus). - Laura Swain CAO, Parkland County
“This TMRP report is an opportunity for everyone in the Tri-Municipal Region to continue building relationships and understanding each other’s perspectives. At this point, I believe it’s important for us to reflect on the report’s recommendations to determine how they fit within each municipality’s strategic priorities so we can be thoughtful and purposeful in its implementation,” - Mayor Stuart Houston, City of Spruce Grove.
“I love the quality of the report! The most important part is though this is through this process we re established good relations with our neighbours.” - Councillor Acker, City of Spruce Grove.
“This plan is a framework for us to work together!” - Mayor Houston, City of Spruce Grove.
“It’s important for us to recognize that there may be elements of the TMRP that each of our municipalities may need to consider and discuss further when it comes to implementation. However, we are committed to upholding our shared mutual respect and the principle of collaboration as we work together to determine next steps as we go forward," - Mayor William Choy, Town of Stony Plain.
“I think that it has been a great process and a complicated one! I give you (Tantus) a lot of credit for taking three councils and three administrations and a whole bunch of information and bring clarity to where we can go next.” - Councillor Oldham, City of Spruce Grove.
“It exceeds what I thought was possible. It is a wonderful document.” - Councillor Gruhlke, City of Spruce Grove.