The City of St. Albert is eyeing new rules that would put a cap on how long school boards can hold on to school sites.
During their April 4 meeting, council heard a presentation about an updated Joint Use and Planning Agreement the city is in the process of creating to replace its former school site allocation agreement. The province added the agreement as a requirement in the Municipal Government Act (MGA) in late 2019.
Municipalities have been given three years to make the change. As the City looks to form the new agreement, administration has asked that councillors provide input on the new agreement no later than April 8.
The former school site allocation agreement outlines how the superintendents of St. Albert Public, Greater St. Albert Catholic, and Greater North Central Francophone school boards collaborate with St. Albert’s chief administrative officer (CAO) to determine which board gets which school site.
Additionally, the agreement outlines other aspects, such as how school sites are serviced, as well as planning, development, and use of school sites.
Coun. Wes Brodhead asked whether the new agreement could outline terms that would return allocated school sites to the City if they are not utilized within a certain time frame.
“The City may have very good use for that land and we're unable to on the hopes that a school board might get a school,” Brodhead said.
David Leflar, City director of legal and legislative services, said there is no mechanism within the MGA that would allow the City to take the site back, but the
City could negotiate a term in the upcoming agreement.
“We have a real opportunity here,” Leflar said, noting the MGA specifically says that the parties must come up with a mechanism for the situation Brodhead outlined. “There’s a great big club over the head of both the cities … and the school boards to say … enough of hoarding sites forever.”
Leflar noted, however, that whether such a mechanism would ultimately be in the agreement would be a matter of negotiation.
Mayor Cathy Heron cited a school site in Oakmont, which St. Albert’s Catholic and public school boards have kept despite the City eyeing it for other purposes.
In 2019, then-councillor Jacquie Hansen — a former school board trustee — told The Gazette that the site could be repurposed for City initiatives such as affordable housing, while school board chairs argued the site would be a vital school space as the city expands.
Heron said there could be potential to link the time when the school site would revert back to the City with the build-out of its respective neighbourhood.
“We might need a school, but it’s the province that pays for it,” Heron said, noting the school boards’ hands are tied as well. “We’ve had four funding announcements for schools and that site in Oakmont has been passed over every time.”
Kerry Hilts, interim CAO, noted that there could be an issue with the reverse side of creating time restraints around neighbourhood buildout.
For example, Hilts noted Kingswood has had a school site allocated for 30 years, but the neighbourhood hasn’t yet been built.
Planning in the interim
Though the City provided its intent to withdraw from its former school site allocation agreement last year, council voted on Jan. 10 to enter into a memorandum of understanding stating that the City will follow the former agreement until the new one is in place.
Marta Caulfield, deputy City solicitor for St. Albert, told council during a Jan. 10 meeting that the intention was to enter into the new framework prior to the actual termination of the school site allocation agreement. Due to “unforeseen circumstances,” however, Caulfield said this didn’t take place.
The City must enter into a new agreement by June of 2023.
