The City of St. Albert kicked off public engagement on a plan for lands west of St. Albert during a public open house May 26.
The St. Albert west area structure plan (ASP) will span from Carrot Creek on its east to Ray Gibbon Drive on its west, and run from the city’s south border to its former north border (prior to annexation from Sturgeon County). Held over Zoom and led by engineering services company Stantec, the open house received minimal attendance with around 17 present at its peak — including city and Stantec employees.
Once completed, the St. Albert west ASP will include St. Albert’s Lakeview Business District, as well as the Badger Lands the city is currently eyeing for a 15-megawatt solar-farm project.
Fitting such a large area within one ASP will be possible because of the city’s recently approved two-tier planning process. Designed to make the planning process more efficient by fast-tracking technical design changes that don’t require council approval or oversight from the region, the neighbourhood plan will expand on ASP details for select areas, such as Lakeview.
Scott Cole, a Stantec project manager, outlined the ASP process and subsequent engagement sessions that will follow as the plan is developed. Cole said draft concepts for the ASP will be developed in the summer, with additional public engagement opportunities in the early fall.
While the open house was sparsely attended, Stantec held other engagement sessions, including one with stakeholders such as adjacent municipalities and landowners in the area.
Alfred L’Hirondelle, president of the St. Albert Métis Local, asked during the open house whether the city plans to engage the Indigenous community in planning for the ASP.
“I was curious because I know with our history there were a lot of camps around the Big Lake and that area where our ancestors used to live,” L’Hirondelle said. “Is that going to be part of your plan to take a look and see what some of the activities happening in those areas were?”
Tracy Tsui, a city planner, said her department will collaborate with the Indigenous relations staff at the city to form engagement sessions that “will be happening sometime soon.”
“We agree that it’s important that we meet with those Indigenous communities early on in this project to point out any things that we need to be aware of as we prepare the ASP,” Tsui said.
Plan to build on previous vision for area
While the project for the St. Albert west ASP only kicked off this spring, Cole noted a “significant amount” of other planning work has already taken place for lands within the area, such as the Lakeview Business District portion.
“The St. Albert west ASP will be the culmination of all of the city's work to date,” Cole said.
Cole noted that some aspects of the project are still up in the air, such as the use for the city-owned Badger Lands, which he described as presenting a unique opportunity to utilize Brownfield land — in this case, land contaminated by salt from its former use as a snow dump.
Council is set to decide whether to proceed with the solar-farm project July 13.
“At that time, the project team will have more direction,” Cole said.
Members of the public with additional feedback on the St. Albert west ASP can fill out a survey at the city’s website: https://conversation.stalbert.ca/west-asp. The survey is open until June 9.
