After an understanding in principle in April, the long over due annexation between the Town of Okotoks and the M.D. of Foothills is pretty much good as done.

Council approved the annexation's final proposals and concepts at Monday's council and now almost 2,000 acres is in their possession.

Okotoks Town Councillor Tanya Thorn

Councillor Tanya Thorn says it's nice to final see light at the end of the tunnel.

"We've been at this pretty much since I've been elected, I've been working on the annexation negotiation committee since October 2013," she says. "It was real glorified moment to have council agree to the annexation Monday, get it signed and get all the details worked out with the M.D."

The next step in the annexation process is the annexation report which will be handed over the Municipal Government Board Thorn says.

"The municipal government board then has to approve that agreement and ratify our annexation so that we can change boundaries and all of those aspects and we hope to have that completed by January 2017."

Thorn says once 2017 rolls in she expects the Town to hit the ground running with development.

"It's exciting for our community and I look forward to the next steps of our long range planning and determining where we're going to go and what we want to see for growth and usages in those areas but it's exciting it's been a long time coming so I commend our administration and our negotiation team in working so diligently to come up with an agreement that works for both sides."

Okotoks Mayor Bill Robertson said back in an interview with Okotoks Online in April that even without the approval of the potable water pipeline needed for Town in order to expand at the moment development can still begin once all items of business are signed off for the annexation.