St. Albert residents can expect to see the city begin working on a new branch library next year, after council approved the project during budget deliberations.
But residents hoping for a new ice surface and additional swimming capacity will have to wait until the 2018 budget to see if those projects move forward.
At a Nov. 29 budget meeting, councillors finalized the proposed capital budget for 2017, and most notably made decisions about the three major capital projects that had been included as part of the 2017 plan.
The amount the city will have to borrow for the library is pegged at $17.8 million. The additional ice surface at Servus Place would have required $17 million in borrowing and the expansion of the pool at Servus Place would have required borrowing $13.3 million.
Finance Director Diane McMordie said the property-tax impact of borrowing for the library will mean property tax increases of roughly 0.1 per cent in 2018 and an additional 1.1 per cent in 2019 – over and above any other increases council may approve in those years.
She noted those figures are based on the best estimates of when the city will have to access the funds and the interest rate at which the city can borrow, both of which are subject to change.
Representatives of the St. Albert Public Library were understandably pleased with council's decision. In a media release issued shortly after the decision was made, library board chair Charmaine Brooks said she was "relieved and delighted."
She said the board worked hard on a functional plan and concept design based on public feedback following council's approval of the project charter last November. She emphasized recent survey results showing St. Albertans not only support the project, but also support borrowing to get a branch library built.
"Now it's time for real action, with detailed design being undertaken in 2017 ready for construction in 2018," she said. "Once council has identified the land for the site, we will be raring to go."
While council has met in camera to discuss a potential site for the branch library, potential sites have not been disclosed and no decision has been made. The branch library is expected to go in the city's fast-growing north end.
Coun. Tim Osborne, who is also council's representative on the library board, put forward the motion to fund the branch library. He argued the need for this project and the desire from community members to see it go forward is well established.
"We've looked at this, we've obviously studied this and the need has been clearly articulated and validated through some of the conceptual work that's taken place," he said.
Coun. Cathy Heron said considering all the work this council has done to get the library to this point, including approving the project charter, now is the time to make the project happen.
"If we don't continue on this road, the study and the money we spent there is wasted," she said. "I felt we made a commitment last year, and I'm not going to back down on that commitment."
Coun. Wes Brodhead said he felt the time was right to move forward on the project, considering the outpouring of support that's come from community members.
"I think what we've heard from our community is they're prepared to go for it, as am I," he said.
Council's decision to move forward with the branch library was unanimous.
In addition to the library, council approved a list of prioritized growth projects city administration recommended in September, with few changes.
These projects include a covered sand-storage building for public works valued at $2.7 million, neighbourhood park construction at $1.2 million, expanding the municipal digital network to core facilities for $772,600 and implementing Safe Journeys to Schools strategies for $707,000.
Council also approved several capital projects not on administration's recommended list, including a $1-million renovation to build a ramp and elevators at the art gallery.
The remainder of the projects, including the French Canadian Farm project at Heritage Park, Founders Walk Phase 3, Riel Park Phase 5 and an aerial fire truck, have been moved from 2017 to 2018 in the city's growth capital plan.
With a municipal election next October prior to the budget process, it will be up to the next council to determine how to proceed. Considering the 10-year capital funding deficit of more than $300 million, council may not be able to move forward with everything on the wish list.
Ice surface
Proponents of the ice surface and pool expansion projects expressed disappointment with council's decision not to move forward with those two capital expenditures.
St. Albert Minor Hockey Association president Gill Hermanns said he was surprised and disappointed to learn the association would have to wait longer for more ice availability in the community, noting both hockey and ringette players in town are already well short of having their ice-time needs met.
"We each receive about 64 per cent of the ice we require to run our programs," he said. "We rent quite a bit of ice outside the community."
He said that ice time, rented in communities like Riviere Qui Barre and Legal, costs more to the association than ice in St. Albert.
"It increases the cost to us, which also increases the cost to parents," he said.
Hermanns estimated there are roughly 1,800 young hockey players representing 1,400 families in the St. Albert.
But despite his disappointment, he said he understands that tough decisions had to be made and that ultimately, the economic reality is that the city can't build every project on its wish list.
That same economic reality formed a significant part of the argument in council chambers in deciding whether to move forward with the project. Council ultimately voted against Osborne's motion to fund the ice surface, with only Osborne, Brodhead and Mayor Nolan Crouse in favour in the 4-3 vote.
Coun. Cam MacKay said he understood the need for the project, but after approving the library he couldn't justify more debt for the city.
"We just can't do all of them at once," he said. "The cost would be an enormous burden for our taxpayers to bear immediately."
Heron agreed, saying her opposition to the ice surface and aquatics facility is about the timing of having three big projects go ahead simultaneously.
"It's not that they're not as important," she said. "I just feel it's not fair to our residents to significantly burden them all at once."
Swimming expansion
While the vote was split on the ice surface, Crouse was the only voice in support of moving forward with expanding the pool at Servus Place. He said his position on all three facilities was that it was all or none.
"I think we're making a $60 million decision, the reason being I think we've got to provide this leadership," he said.
He pointed to the public backlash when council voted to build Servus Place to begin with, or to build Ray Gibbon Drive, but said they were good decisions and so would expanding Servus Place.
"Stick your neck out and do this," he said.
Other councillors didn't agree, some noting the cost concerns associated with doing all three projects at once, but also the specific need for this project.
Hughes pointed to the fact the YMCA has expressed interest in working with the city to get an aquatics facility built within the next decade, and regardless said the need for a new pool is overblown.
She argued the city's spontaneous use policy at Servus Place is what prevents lessons being offered there, and what prevents allowing swim clubs dedicated access to the lanes there.
"This is a classic example of how we've created policies to … drive an additional need," she said.
MacKay noted he had spoken with some aquatics users who didn't feel an expansion at Servus Place would address their needs regardless.
"This one requires a little bit more work," he said.
Brodhead said he struggled with this project right from the beginning, noting it appeared to be based mostly on complaints about having to book swimming lessons early, which isn't new.
"The fact people need to phone early and get in early in order for their children to have access to swimming lessons, that's probably been around since St. Albert started," he said.
The decision not to proceed with the pool has met with mixed reactions from aquatics users.
Chris Waples, president of the St. Albert Sailfish Swim Club, said while he's disappointed the expansion didn't get approved he has been in contact with city administration and expects more consultation going forward.
"Going forward are we happy it didn't get approved? No we're not, but I think the future looks brighter because there seems to be a willingness to get together and discuss some options," he said.
He noted what the city will need in the long term is a full eight-lane swimming pool, but the two-lane expansion would have been a welcome "band-aid solution" that could help the club grow in the short term.
On the other hand Sailfish past president Werner Biegler, who asked council in the spring to alter the spontaneous-use model and allow the club to book more swimming-lane time to expand, said he was pleased the project isn't going forward since it won't meet the need of an eight-lane pool.
"Just like the city won't go ahead now and build a quarter of a library or half a library, why would aquatic users think a quarter of a pool would meet their needs?" he said. "It should not by any means be construed as an appropriate aquatics facility."
Ultimately, Biegler said what aquatics users in this city would benefit from is the if the city backed away from its spontaneous use model, which has 50 per cent of time at the Fountain Park pool dedicated to drop-in use, to allow more time to be dedicated to swim-club use.
He noted the city does not have similar spontaneous-use models for other recreation facilities like hockey arenas, which in effect "discriminates" against aquatics users.
Budget decisions won't be finalized until council approves the final version of the budget, scheduled for the Dec. 12 meeting.
