St. Albert's year-and-a-half flirtation with smart growth planning has come to an end.
In a close 4-3 vote, city council rejected most of the key elements of the latest hybrid smart growth plan during a motion-filled meeting Monday.
Councillors directed administration to halt all work on smart growth for the northwest lands and to completely remove references to the topic from the municipal development plan, the city's top planning blueprint.
The city will instead focus on a still undefined "St. Albert model for future growth."
"Smart growth is restrictive growth," said Coun. Gareth Jones, who introduced the vast majority of motions, including the move to stop work on smart growth.
Most examples of smart growth from the United States focus on decaying inner-city redevelopments, said Jones, who visited many developments to educate himself on the subject.
During months of research he was unable to find examples of smart growth covering such a large greenfield area as the 1,336-hectare northwest lands, he said.
Jones said he was uncomfortable with the amount of density proposed in the latest hybrid smart growth model, which proposed a tripling of St. Albert's density. New regional targets only propose doubling density, and that's far enough, he said.
"The signs are there why St. Albert should not continue."
Industrial area rejected
Council rejected most of the defining elements of the hybrid smart growth plan created by city administration, including the move toward a modified grid street pattern over St. Albert's traditional 'curvilinear' alignments.
Other elements voted down include back alleys, parkways and an industrial park proposed for the area west of Ray Gibbon Drive by Carrot Creek. Coun. Carol Watamaniuk called the idea "backward thinking."
"Putting industry by something as environmentally significant as this is just right from the Dark Ages," she said.
High-density transit-oriented development was one of the few smart growth principles that council agreed is a good fit for the northwest lands. They agreed to keep the transit hub proposed north of the Walmart power centre and left the door open to a second at a still undefined location.
In total council debated 17 motions Monday. City administration has been asked to prepare a report outlining the full implications of those decisions by July 15.
