Proposals seeking to turn St. Albert’s northwest corner into a cutting-edge clean technology hub and a sports urban village are far from becoming reality and must clear several city hall hurdles before breaking ground, say city officials.
Not only that, the concepts run counter to council’s established vision of light industrial development in the area.
“We have given firm direction to our staff to zone and plan everything for light industrial. We have not wavered on that, not since the election,” said Mayor Nolan Crouse.
This week, two separate but neighbouring concepts for St. Albert have generated attention from regional media.
One is a 135-hectare, $1.6 billion mixed-use development called Avenir that would invest in clean-technology companies alongside new residential development. The other is a 121-hectare sports urban village that would combine sports facilities like hockey rinks and ball diamonds with residential, commercial and industrial development.
The projects would be located next to each other between Ray Gibbon Drive and Carrot Creek, which lies west of North Ridge.
Both projects include some industrial development but don’t adhere to council’s original intent when St. Albert annexed the land from Sturgeon County in 2007. In order to reach its goal of an 80/20 residential to non-residential tax split, the council of the day identified three “study areas” for exploration as possible light industrial sites.
This week council gave up on one such study area in the northeast after deciding that light industrial didn’t fit. Crouse said it’s too soon to say whether he’d be willing to waver from the light industrial direction for this parcel because the developers haven’t come to council with detailed plans. “I don’t know what they are. I haven’t seen them,” he said.
One city hall official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the developers are trying to pressure council to change their vision by generating interest through the news media.
It’s not a surprise that the proposals are generating media interest, as they are both creative and interesting, said city manager Bill Holtby.
“In my opinion, they’re a bit of trial balloons,” he said. “People need to be clear that these are developers’ concepts and visions of what could occur, but those have to line up with the planning regulations.”
St. Albert doesn’t yet have full zoning control over the land in question but is expecting to complete a deal with the county in the first quarter of 2010, Holtby said.
For the concepts to move forward, the developers must make a formal request to change the city’s municipal development plan, which would require a council vote.
That process usually takes two or three months, Holtby said. The next step is to bring forward an Area Structure Plan, which normally takes a year. If that’s approved, the developers can subdivide and start building. That means groundbreaking won’t happen until fall 2011 at the earliest.
Coun. James Burrows has been an avid supporter of the Avenir concept since the developer first went public with it last May.
He thinks it would be foolish of council to insist on industrial development in the area, which would result in the land sitting empty for decades while the city collects minimal taxes.
“It just forces that landowner to just sit on their land in perpetuity until the faces on council change to get what they want,” Burrows said.
The developers have been working together and feel their projects complement each other.
“If all plans come to fruition like they’re supposed to, you’ll see a very vibrant community where there will be a tremendous amount of activity,” said David Bromley, project director for Avenir.
“We’ve got some hoops and hurdles to jump through but that’s the normal process when it comes to developments,” said Pat Cassidy of SAS Sports & Entertainment Group, which is behind the sports village concept.
Cassidy has been working for years to develop a sports complex in St. Albert. In 2006, he failed to convince the city to service the 80-acre Badger Lands and sell it to him at a nominal cost so he could build a $100-multi-purpose sports facility and training centre through a public-private partnership. Cassidy has since built the Athletes Nation training facility in Campbell Business Park. His company also owns the Edmonton Prospects baseball team.
This project is much larger than his Badger proposal and would require no public money, he said.
“At this stage of the game, that’s not the type of co-operation or input we’re looking for from the city,” said Cassidy.
He admitted he’s trying to generate publicity in order to find partners and move the project along the development process.
“We’re rallying the project and putting it out there. Let’s see what kind of interest we can drum up,” he said.
