Put away the torches and pitchforks — Cranbrook has no plans to expand its municipal boundaries.
The issue sparked a social media furor late last week when a staff report featuring a map with a proposed boundary extension appeared in the agenda for Monday’s regular city council meeting.
As it turns out, the report was more of an abstract theoretical exercise than a binding policy document for staff and council.
However, when some Gold Creek residents — and others in nearby rural areas — saw the map with the proposed boundary extension, they hit the proverbial roof, judging by the social media reaction.
It started innocently enough.
A few property owners on the edge of the existing municipal boundary enquired about being brought into the municipal fold in order to access sewer and water infrastructure as well as to subdivide and develop.
From there, the exercise morphed into examining rural areas surrounding Cranbrook and projecting what city limits might look like decades down the road.
Cranbrook doesn’t currently have a long-term growth plan that projects decades into the future, according to Mayor Pratt.
To be fair, it is both worthwhile and prudent to look 50 years down the road to see what Cranbrook may look like, especially for a land-use planning perspective.
However, the exercise appears to be moot for now.
The report was included in the city council agenda that was released late Thursday, but it had been removed by Friday afternoon.