After years of trying to designate a portion of the city’s annexed lands in the northeast for industrial use, city council has officially thrown in the towel.
Council agreed Monday to change the land use from ‘future study area’ to residential in the municipal development plan (MDP). The parcel of land, owned by Walter Mis, is located northeast of Erin Ridge North, which gained council approval last week.
In light of the Erin Ridge North decision, Mayor Nolan Crouse said it would be more appropriate to continue with residential development on its fringe rather than the industrial designation council had once hoped for.
“It was more clear to me that the Mis property should not be an area we should be planning for non-residential development,” said Crouse. “Mr. Mis has made it clear [residential is] what he wants and I believe we don’t have any other reason to have that [designated] non-residential.”
In 2007, administration was directed to identify the Mis property one of three ‘future study areas’ in the MDP. The areas are technically devoid of land use, but industrial zoning was often regarded as the ultimate goal and part of an effort to reach an 80-20 residential to non-residential tax split.
At that time, council believed the Mis property would be suitable for light industrial use since the land is located near a former chicken farm.
To date, however, Crouse said there has been no interest in developing a light industrial park in the area, which has forced the study area issue to come to a standstill.
Mis himself is not surprised to learn council has opted to label the land residential. He presented council with a tentative area structure plan several years ago, proposing only residential.
“The industrial doesn’t fit in there and they [council] know that,” said Mis. “We looked at putting industrial in there, but it just doesn’t work.”
Crouse said Campbell Business Park should realistically sell out within the next couple of years, and South Riel is the next industrial area in line for development.
The city does have another study area for future industrial development on the west side of Ray Gibbon Drive, and is currently in talks with Sturgeon County on getting the area formally designated industrial since the land falls under a joint intermunicipal development plan that oversees growth.
Both parties are set to meet next week, and Crouse is hopeful they will be able to hammer out a deal that will secure St. Albert with at least a 20-year supply of raw industrial land.
“We have yet to get approval, but we’re close,” said Crouse, who noted now is the time to secure future industrial lands. “We have to get another site in preparation for another five or seven years from now.”
The land-use changes won’t become official until council approves amendments to the MDP bylaw. A timeframe for the changes has not been set.
