Talk:Special Areas Board

Settlements on which specific Special Area
Which of all of these communities and settlements correspond to which "Special Area" specifically? Johnluisocasio 17:39, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Proposed split
This article discusses both the governing board of the Special Areas of Alberta, and the areas as a district. I propose that an explanation of the governing board remain at "Special Areas Board", and a new article be created at "Special Areas, Alberta" that discusses the area like a municipal district article does. 117Avenue (talk) 00:03, 26 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi 117 Avenue. I just saw this now. Apparently this article was not on my watchlist. I agree with the above and further propose another three articles:
 * Special Areas Board to recognize the governing body that oversees the three separate special area municipalities;
 * Special areas of Alberta (instead of Special Areas, Alberta) to present what special areas are, like as you mentioned above and like Specialized municipalities of Alberta;
 * Special Area No. 2, Alberta to recognize that it is a separate municipality from the other two;
 * Special Area No. 3, Alberta to recognize that it is a separate municipality from the other two; and
 * Special Area No. 4, Alberta to recognize that it is a separate municipality from the other two.
 * Cheers, --Hwy43 (talk) 17:45, 11 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Further to above, an alternate to Special Areas Board could be a redirect to a section within Special areas of Alberta, such as Special areas of Alberta#Administration or Special areas of Alberta#Special Areas Board. --Hwy43 (talk) 13:48, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

✅ I have spilt off the three districts, but I think that an explanation of the Special areas of Alberta should be included on this page. You may need to fix things if my understanding of it isn't correct. 117Avenue (talk) 23:36, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Per the new discussion below, I would like to re-engage discussion on this article is named and structured.
 * Special areas of Alberta (article name, like Specialized municipalities of Alberta)
 * History (section)
 * Special Areas Board (section, like how Capital Region Board is discussed at Edmonton Capital Region; as a result, Special Areas Board could be redirected to this section)
 * Demographics (section, or List of special areas like at Specialized municipalities of Alberta)
 * See also (section)
 * References (section)
 * External links (section)

Thoughts? Hwy43 (talk) 20:51, 21 April 2011 (UTC)


 * This article is currently a merger of the governing board, and the areas as a whole (demographics, definition of municipality type etc.) I didn't think that the board was notable enough for a stand alone article, most of the councils for the communities mentioned on Alberta municipal elections, 2010 don't have their own articles (some of the cities I plan on doing some day), and at a population under 5,000 this board didn't get even get included on the municipal elections article. However, if there is enough content, a split could work. It should be noted that Special Areas, Alberta and Special Areas Act 1938 (Special Area and Special Areas Act are disambiguation pages) currently redirect here. 117Avenue (talk) 23:44, 21 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree that the governing body and the area as a whole should only get one article, and it seems like either way would do that. I think that re-organizing the article like Hwy43 suggested is a good idea. Millifolium (talk) 00:07, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Names of Special Areas
I removed the paragraph: A review of historical federal census data has shown that Alberta has never had a fourth special area in its history that went under the official name of Special Area No. 1. As such, it is unclear as to why the province numbered its three special areas as 2 through 4 instead of 1 through 3, in 1938.

Although it may be true that the name "Special Area No. 1" was never in widespread use, this paragraph is misleading. There were in fact originally six Special Areas, and it appears that they were soon consolidated into four: Tilly East Special Area; Berry Creek-Sullivan Lake Special Area; Sounding Creek-Neutral Hills Special Area; and Bow West Special Area

I do not know how these four Special areas became only three that are named Special Areas No. 2-4, but it seems reasonable that at some point there was a Special Area No. 1.

Millifolium (talk) 07:28, 21 April 2011 (UTC)


 * It wasn't intended to be misleading, but it was a somewhat speculatory contribution during the infancy of my time on WP. I like what you've replaced it with.  However, it is lacking a reference.  Can you provide?  Hwy43 (talk) 14:47, 21 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I didn't mean to sound accusatory. I've done a bit more research, and included the references.  This just comes from the original acts, which are available here, and some of the amendments that are published here.  The Special Areas are numbered in the act, and Tilley East Special Area is number 1, so it would make sense that this is the missing Special Area No. 1.  However, I haven't tracked down when Tilley East and Bow West were disbanded, or when the names were officially changed to numbers.  If Tilley East was disbanded before the names were changed to numbers, you are probably correct that there was never a Special Area No. 1.  I think they may have changed names in 1959.  I can't put any more time into this at the moment, but if you would like to pursue this further, it would be interesting to see what you find. Millifolium (talk) 20:10, 21 April 2011 (UTC)


 * No offense taken. It is a matter of interpretation, so I was just clarifying the genuine intent. I've reviewed some of the same documents here today as well, and have compiled some relevant links to draw upon for further elaboration and referencing purposes. I likely won't be able to do so until after the long weekend though. Thanks for starting on it and I encourage you to keep going in the meantime if you feel inclined. Hwy43 (talk) 20:32, 21 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Also, it should be noted that this article is on the governing body of the Special Areas Board, not special areas in general. Content on the history of the special areas may not necessarily be appropriate for this article, whereas history of the board itself would be appropriate. If you look at the past proposed split discussion above, I previously suggested creation of a Special areas of Alberta article that I never acted on (based on the design of Specialized municipalities of Alberta). This new content would best suited within a History section of this article if and when created. This might be a good project for next week once I'm back from the long weekend. Hwy43 (talk) 20:39, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

I've done a bit more research on the history. I still haven't figured out when Tilley East and Bow West were removed from the Special Areas. They are listed in the revised statutes for 1955, but not included in the amendment for 1959. Also, the 1969 amendment that created Special Area No. 4 stated that this new Special Area was created from the lands that had been previously withdrawn from Special Area No. 3, and were not currently part of any municipality. I don't know when these lands were withdrawn, they were still part of Special Area No. 3 in 1959. Millifolium (talk) 19:46, 22 April 2011 (UTC)