By Sean Myers, Calgary Herald

CHESTERMERE — The pressures that come with rapid growth are being felt in the communities of Chestermere and Airdrie, which are expanding four times faster than Calgary, but not enough to slow the influx of new residents.

Chestermere is the fifth fastest-growing municipal centre in the country, with a 49.4 per cent jump in population between 2006 and 2011, according to data from the 2011 Census.

Airdrie jumped by 47.1 per cent, making it the eighth fastest in growth.

Both enjoy lower property taxes and a small town lifestyle within easy commuting distance from Calgary.

For Chestermere, the population sat at 14,824 in 2011, according to the census, nearly double the 9,923 recorded in 2006.

Back in 1980, just 424 called the lakeside community home.

In 2009, Chestermere annexed more than 2,700 hectares to allow for the expected growth.

Residents say what they'd like to see now is more amenities that would give them fewer reasons to have to drive to Calgary.

"I think we need more shopping and more stores out here, just to keep us in the town," said Valerie Moss, who moved from Calgary just over seven years ago with her husband, Jeff, and is now raising a baby girl. "We still go into the city for any kind of clothing, shopping for the baby.

"And for a nice dinner we go into the city."

Many parents say what's also needed is an updated recreation centre with a swimming pool.

"We could definitely use a pool. Right now we have to go to Strathmore or Calgary," said Thuy Nguyen, who's originally from Vietnam, but moved to Chestermere eight years ago.

She hopes the growth slows a little while the town catches up.

"When we first moved here it was about 5,000, it's basically tripled since then. It's all new development here," Nguyen said.

"I feel there's not enough support for the population around here. Growing is good but not that fast. Not as fast as it has been the last few years."

Chestermere Mayor Patricia Matthews said more amenities are needed, especially in the commercial realm but she argued that town council has kept up with the expansion.

"We knew it was happening here. We've been working hard to keep up with the growth pressures that are on us," Matthews said. "We're on top of it."

Meanwhile, in the past five years, Airdrie has grown by nearly the same number of people that now live in Chestermere.

The city of 42,564 (up from 28,927 in 2006) now ranks as the 10th largest municipality in Alberta, but it doesn't have an overnight emergency care facility.

Anyone requiring medical care after 10 p.m. must travel to the Peter Lougheed Centre in Calgary to the south or the Didsbury hospital to the north.

"That's probably the biggest hurdle the city's facing right now because of growth," said Mike De Bokx, president of the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce who sits on a committee working with Alberta Health Services to get 24-hour health care in the city.

"What we keep hearing from the powers that be who would grant a hospital, or grant us funding for something that would be open 24 hours, is that we're close enough to Peter Lougheed that we don't need a hospital. Which is fine when the Deerfoot is open and there's no issues. When you're in the middle of a snow storm it's kind of hard to get in there sometimes."

Donna Pearce agrees, saying a 24-hour health centre is as important as her main issue: more schools.

"That is so huge, every single parent in Airdrie has experienced the frustration with that reality," said Pearce, the chairwoman of the Airdrie Council of School Councils.

"We shouldn't have to run to Calgary or Didsbury every time our kids are in crisis. I've actually also gone to Cochrane as well. You tend to shop around when you're in a medical crisis to see where you get your child in the quickest, or get them in at all."

Airdrie is hoping to finally see some relief in its public schools, some of which have been running at 115 per cent capacity in recent years.

Rocky View School Division sold a building last year to pay for two hybrid schools that are being rushed to open, possibly this fall, while the province is paying for a middle school and a high school to open in 2014.

"What we've been granted would've maybe caught us up if they were all opening right now," said Pearce. "We need announcements of schools every year to catch up and to keep up. We need to do both."

Airdrie mayor Peter Brown said he believes the city is keeping up and expects the province to step up with more infrastructure in the near future. He's currently waiting on the province to approve a 5,100-hectare annexation to the north, east and west.

"When you grow this fast, it obviously puts a lot of stress on everything," said Brown.

"But we've adapted quite well and we're managing things. We still have a very safe community, we don't have a lot of the challenges a lot of the major cities have to deal with."