Business View - December 2014 135
The county itself spring from a gradual melding of a
handful of rural communities that had been unincor-
porated in the early 1990s. Several became part of
a newly-created Lakeland County by 1998, and Lac
La Biche County was formed when residents of both
Lakeland and the pre-existing town of Lac La Biche
voted to merge in 2007.
The county is now home to the five hamlets of Bea-
ver Lake, Hylo, Lac La Biche, Plamondon and Venice,
alongside another two dozen communities officially
designated as “localities.”
Its geographic positioning between Edmonton (200
kilometers to the south) and Fort McMurray (280 ki-
lometers to the north) has been a lure to a mix of resi-
dents that include some who work in the oil patches
up north, some who’ve taken advantage of a burgeon-
ing local service industry and some who’ve chosen the
area as an ideal retirement spot because of its ameni-
ties and proximity to family.
And with the uptick in population comes interest from
developers.
“We are getting quite a few people coming in and in-
quiring about setting up businesses and even differ-
ent types of commerce,” Shapka said. “There’s a lot of
that sort of activity. We, of course, are still trying to ad-
vertise ourselves as well. Some are coming because of
our location, and others, we’re attempting to attract.”
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