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Home > About UDI - Calgary > History
About UDI - Calgary's History
Up until the early 1950's, development in Calgary was
conducted almost exclusively by the City itself. However, staff
shortages and the ever-escalating cost of installing services in a
growing community made this an increasingly more difficult
commitment to fulfill.
To help alleviate the problem, an
agreement was reached between the City and one or two private
developers whereby the City would install the trunklines and the
installation of services off the trunkline became the responsibility
of the developers. This arrangement in time was amended to allow the
City to recover trunk costs through acreage assessments. It is
rumored that this first agreement was hand written on a manila
folder. This tends to stretch the imagination a little when considering the complexity of today's
development agreement.
 The earliest recorded development agreement was signed
on October 15, 1955 on the City's behalf by the Mayor Don McKay and
the Commissioner for Public Works, Mr. Barney Thomas. Four companies
collectively referred to, as "the contractors" were Spy Hill,
Glencoe, Actors Realty and Wilson & Sons. Signing on their
behalf was Mr. Johnny MacLeod.
The agreement was based on
50/50 cost sharing but it is interesting to note that the
"contractor" had "the right to charge the school boards its profit
charges for such sewer."
This alliance gave rise to similar
local arrangements and soon it was decided to form an organized
association. In 1958 a formal charter was drawn up and on November
10th of that year The Urban Development Institute was registered
under the Societies Act of Alberta.
The value of the
institute was realized very quickly by the industry and new chapters
were formed in other parts of the country. Ontario became the second
provincial chapter in 1960 followed by Manitoba
and Nova Scotia. UDI Alberta now maintains chapters
in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer,
Grande Prairie, Cold Lake, Wood Buffalo and Lethbridge. April 1973 saw the formation of UDI Canada
as a national body. UDI Pacific followed in the same year. The
youngest Provincial member of the UDI family is Quebec, incorporated
in 1987. There are now over 1500+ corporate memberts, coast to
coast!
UDI - Calgary's sphere of influence has expanded
greatly over the years and covers every aspect of development.
Chapters maintain strong interrelationships and are constantly in
liaison with their respective civic politicians and administrators,
Provincial legislators and Federal ministers, dealing with
everything from engineering specifications to tax reform.
UDI
- Calgary will continue to grow and strive for the betterment of
all.
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