A controversial proposal that includes a land swap of parkland in the Braeside neighbourhood comes before city council on Monday. City councillors will vote on first reading of two bylaws necessary for the land swap and redistricting for a condo development at 53, 55 and 57 Sturgeon Road. Currently, those addresses have single-detached homes on the property. The project would require changes to the city's municipal development plan and land use bylaw. There has been a strong public backlash to the proposal. Many of the concerns residents have are detailed in 172 pages of letters, emails and feedback forms included with Monday's agenda package. Traffic, aesthetics and the value of the land being considered for trade are some of the primary concerns expressed. There are also letters of support from some residents. The land use bylaw amendment would redistrict the property from low-density residential to medium-density residential. The developer, Greg MacKenzie and Associates Consulting, is also asking council to swap a piece of Red Willow Park for a treed and sloped backyard parcel of one of the homes. The proposed swap requires changes to the city's municipal development plan. Along with the votes on Monday, council will hold a public hearing for residents at 5 p.m. City staff support both the MDP amendment, which an administrative report states would let the city make the Red Willow Park corridor "more aesthetically pleasing", and the redistricting. If the recommendation to change the municipal development plan passes, Mayor Cathy Heron said it will need to go to the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB), formerly known as the Capital Region Board. "Because Braeside doesn't have an area structure plan, it has to be a municipal development plan change," she said. "Our MDP, no matter what in the city, needs to go (to EMRB)." Land appraisals for the parcels proposed in the swap are confidential. However, along with administration's recommendation is information that shows the swap would involve a 20 per cent reduction in park space along Sturgeon Road but would not affect the park's function. It would also shift park space to the Red Willow Trail and would give the city control of riparian lands along the Sturgeon River. The report describes it as an overall "reshaping" of park space rather than a loss. The developer had to submit several other studies as part of their application package. Among those was a tree appraisal and assessment of the value of the natural area, which do not impact land value. That appraisal, which looked at tree health, size and species as well as canopy and underbrush, found the trees and vegetation in the developer's portion are worth around $118,000, while the trees and vegetation in the park portion are worth just over $36,000. "Many of the trees on the City-owned park parcel are in poor health while the privately owned lands contain high value species trees that are large and in good health," states an administrative report that will come before council Monday. The required studies also found the development would increase traffic on Sturgeon Road by 10 per cent, or 600 vehicles per day. The development would also need Project 9, a sanitary sewer line now under construction, to be completed before it could move ahead. If the bylaws pass in first reading, they will come back to council for second and third readings.
