[scarberiankhatru]

^ Yeah, strange, gerrymanderish, dynamic municipal boundaries are more common in something like a sun belt state. Municipal boundaries in Denver are hilariously mutated. Atlanta's still annexing everything it can, too.

I wonder if Markham will ever become a city...a town of half a million would be kinda funny.

 

[adma]

Municipal boundaries in Denver are hilariously mutated. Atlanta's still annexing everything it can, too.

Actually, I think Denver's mutation basically stopped sometime in the 70s/80s, due to some kind of city/county edict. And the boundaries of Atlanta proper have (at least until very recently) been fairly stable for at least a good half century--meanwhile, plenty of Atlanta's suburban growth has been helter-skelter unincorporated, kind of according w/an era when the county is the new city, so to speak...

 

[scarberiankhatru]

But in the context of 200+ years of American history, those are recent examples. Gwinnett County is basically one city - it's too far from Atlanta to worry about being swallowed up. Sandy Springs just incorporated but I'm not sure if the real reason was race or the provision of services, probably a combination.

 

[Long Island Mike]

The boundaries keep changing...in ONTARIO at least!

Everyone: Good input from all! AP: I knew myself when The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was created in the 50s it was then split from York County/Region to stand as an independent city of sorts. That evolved with the late 90s changes into the city we know today. Ontario has changed in all sorts of ways-compared with as-mentioned US areas in the NE. In newer areas in Colorado or Texas there is less against change than in older areas.
It all depends on a state's residents-how much they would want home rule.
An example that comes to mind: Virginia has so-called Independent Cities that in some cases are surrounded by a county but are not considered part. Some of these cities recently have been dissolved-an example that comes to mind is South Boston in S central VA-the IC was dissolved and annexed into Halifax County-which surrounds it. Some of these cities are quite interesting-another example: Arlington County which co-exists with the City of Arlington right across the Potomac River from Washington,DC.
In closing-changing boundaries or names is much easier in Canada than the USA! LI MIKE

 

[Ummagumma66]

Add Oxford county to the list of Counties that no longer exist, Oxford became a RM a couple of years ago.

 

[ShonTron]

Oxford has been a RM for a long time (I think the same time as most of the other counties around Toronto became RMs), but apart from the amalgamation of a few townships with each other, little changed. Oxfored still being called a county is just like Muskoka, it is a full RM while not being termed as such - it is called a "District Municipality", from the old Muskoka District, a non-entity like the districts up north.

And Carleton County is now long gone, its name now disappared in the Ottawa megacity.

 

[afransen]

So this never happened, right?

I think Sudbury and Ottawa are two of the other mega-cities created by the Harrisites.

Heavens no. Absolutely no one in Niagara was in favour of it, and there were some Conservative seats at stake, like that of that douche Hudak.

 

[Hydrogen]

Ottawa: Over 2,700 square kilometres. About 110 kilometres across at its widest point. Crazy.

 

[Skeezix]

Ottawa: Over 2,700 square kilometres. About 110 kilometres across at its widest point. Crazy.

Yes, but at least by incorporating the rural belt around Ottawa into the new city, it allows Ottawa to comprehensively manage growth in a manner that would not be possible if you had a ring of independent townships just outside town, all approving subdivisions and plazas willy-nilly because they were desperate for the tax dollars.

Of course, that assumes that Ottawa Council is up to the task of comprehensively managing growth (big if). With the Larry O'Brien circus of the past couple of months, Council's eyes are certainly not on the ball....