The Badger lands are no closer to being developed today than they were nine months ago when the city agreed to pursue a joint area structure plan with a private development group.
A staff shortage in the planning department, combined with ownership changes on the part of the partner group, have kept the project in neutral through the winter and spring.
“Our staff have just been overloaded with things,” said Mayor Nolan Crouse. “There’s not a lot of pressure from [council] on this matter.”
City staff have been focused heavily on other developments, such as Erin Ridge North and the Rampart Avenir-SAS Sports City proposal, he said.
“There are other areas that are more important, and we’ve also got other development issues that are more important, so it’s not critical right now,” Crouse said.
The city-owned Badger site is 32 hectares (80 acres) located on the north side of Villeneuve Road. The land is adjacent to a 32-hectare plot owned by a group of investors that operate under the banner Badger Holdings Ltd.
The Badger group is looking to build a residential development. It approached council last September seeking assurances that it could begin forming an area structure plan jointly with the city. Council gave the go-ahead despite a message from administration that it didn’t have the staff to take on the work and that the city’s priorities for the land were stale.
The city and the developer both say they’ve been idle since then.
“It’s just one of those things. Time passes and, if nobody pushes, nothing happens,” said developer Blaine Usenik.
As owner and president of Strata Developments, Usenik bought into the project last winter. He’s now managing it on behalf of the Badger group.
The group was looking to partner with an active developer. Now that he’s involved, the owners are better positioned to proceed.
“Now we’re on board and we’re ready to start moving things along,” Usenik said.
The city originally bought the land to build a recreation centre. That project eventually shifted to Campbell Business Park and became Servus Credit Union Place.
This prompted council to rethink its priorities for the Badger site in 2007, when it identified four preferred uses: affordable housing, library, church and commercial. A fifth use, for parkland, was to be considered when the city prepares an area plan.
Updating the priorities is something city staff will have to take up with the current council, which came onstream last fall, said director of planning and development Curtis Cundy.
“We’re going to have to do a needs assessment with council before we get too far into it,” Cundy said.
The developers feel the timing is working out fine, since council is pursuing construction of Stage 3 of Ray Gibbon Drive. This will make the area well-connected and sought after, Usenik said.
“I think it has all the ingredients,” he said. “We have to come up with an innovative and creative plan and I’m sure we’ll do that and it’ll work very well.”
