On May 17, 1929, Rochon Sands incorporated as a summer village on Buffalo Lake, one of a type of municipality Alberta had first allowed in 1913 so cottage owners could govern their own shoreline. The 2021 census counted 97 residents living in 53 of its 156 dwellings. The other 103 stood without a usual resident, by simple subtraction, and their owners are eligible to vote in the village all the same.
Key facts
- The Association of Summer Villages of Alberta states that Alberta has 51 summer villages and that Gull Lake became the first in March 1913.
- The Association of Summer Villages of Alberta states that 1995 legislation removed the provisions that allowed new summer villages to form.
- Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census of Population counted 97 residents in the Summer Village of Rochon Sands, living in 53 of its 156 private dwellings.
- The Sylvan Summer Villages voter eligibility guide, citing section 12 of Alberta’s Local Authorities Election Act, states that owning property in a summer village makes a person eligible to vote there.
- Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation applied to Alberta Environment and Protected Areas to lift the suspension on the Buffalo Lake pumping licence, with public statements of concern due April 25, 2026.
A cottage owner gets two ballots in two places and never two in one
A person who owns property in a summer village is eligible to vote in that village’s election. The same person votes in the municipality where they have designated their single place of residence. The Sylvan guide reads section 48 of the Local Authorities Election Act as saying a person may be a resident of only one place at a time for voting, so an owner never casts two votes in one election. What the arrangement does is give property a voice in a municipality that exists mainly to look after property.
Fifty-one villages were formed for cottage owners and no more can be added
The Association of Summer Villages of Alberta says the villages came out of a desire among cottage owners in recreational subdivisions to govern themselves. Gull Lake was first in March 1913, and Seba Beach and Alberta Beach followed in 1920. In 1995 the province removed sections 77(b) and 79 from the Municipal Government Act, which eliminated the provision that permitted new ones. The 51 that remain are a closed set.
Rochon Sands covers 2.03 square kilometres. It is named for the Rochon family, who owned the land in the early 1900s, and the provincial park beside it carries the same name.
The lake outside the village is the larger problem
Buffalo Lake covers 93.5 square kilometres and averages 2.8 metres deep. Water has been pumped into it from the Red Deer River through Parlby Creek since 1996 to hold its level. That licence is now suspended. Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation has applied to lift the suspension on condition that filters keep invasive Prussian carp and their eggs out of the pumped water, and the notice set April 25, 2026 as the deadline for public statements of concern. The sources read for this column record no decision.
A municipality of 2.03 square kilometres has a council and a vote. The licence decision sits with the province.
Fifty-one of these villages remain, and Rochon Sands is the one on the Buffalo Lake shore.
Updated October 7, 2026. The headline and voting explanation now say two ballots in two places, never two in one election. Unverified claims about a provincial park lease and dock decisions were removed.
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