Provincial permission: Towns of Black Diamond and Turner Valley on the verge of their merge

The southern Alberta towns of Turner Valley and Black Diamond have been granted approval from the province to amalgamate into a single town on Jan. 1, 2023. (file)

Black Diamond and Turner Valley will combine into a single town immediately following the New Year's Eve countdown.

The neighbouring communities, situated southwest of Calgary, have been granted approval from the provincial government to become the Town of Diamond Valley effective Jan. 1, 2023.

Each town's bylaws will remain in place following the amalgamation until they're amended or replaced. Current employees of each town will become employees of the new municipal authority and the separate councils will be dissolved and replaced with a single seven-member council of elected officials.

The date of Diamond Valley's first municipal election will be set by the provincial minister of municipal affairs.

The impending amalgamation is one of the rare times in Alberta's history that two towns have voluntarily entered the process. The two councils spent nearly two years drafting a 450 merger guideline to streamline the merger.

Diamond Valley received 74 per cent support when residents from both towns voted on the name for the amalgamated town.