Questions remain following a public presentation on Landrex Inc.’s proposal to change a 5.18-hectare parcel of land along St. Albert Trail to commercial property, which was previously set for urban village style development.
On Sept. 11, representatives from Landrex and ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd. gathered feedback from local residents on their plans to change the parcel’s zoning from mixed-use commercial with residential to commercial development.
Ryan Hierlmeier, who attended the open house, said the presentation gave no indication of what the end use of the site was going to be. Instead, ISL Engineering gave a list of types of businesses that might go up.
“They just said they wanted to change it because the market didn’t desire the urban village,” Hierlmeier said.
Previously Landrex had plans to create a walkable urban village on the plot, featuring the City of St. Albert’s proposed branch library at the time. That concept was developed in 2016. The land in question is the former King of Kings Church, and council green-lighted the mixed-use development in July 2017. Plans at that time had included approximately 140,000 square feet of commercial floor space and 120 residential units, as well as some park space.
Hierlmeier said residents also asked if ISL had any ideas of what the parcel layout would be like, whether the store would be at the front or back, and traffic patterns. They could not provide any at the time.
A spokesperson for ISL Engineering said the company would not provide any information until an application is submitted to the city, when asked for a copy of the presentation given at the public open house. They also did not respond when asked about timelines.
ISL had previously advertised that the change to commercial would require amendments of the Erin Ridge North area structure plan (ASP), the city's municipal development plan and the land use bylaw.
Hierlmeier said “it is neither here nor there” what goes up on the site, because any traffic implications would not impact him, due to his home’s location near Coal Mine Road in Erin Ridge North.
He added some residents are quite often “against change in general” when it comes to these issues.
“Everyone wants to grow, but they don’t want growth in their backyards. I think there’s a lot of bitterness that way, that’s my perception of it at least,” he said.
Another resident, Lisa Pasichnyk, said she wanted to know which type of use – mixed-use or commercial – would generate more traffic.
“I think the main concern for myself and other St. Albert residents was the impact this change would have on the traffic to our surrounding residential areas,” she said in an email.
Coun. Ken MacKay attended the open house as well and said going back to strictly commercial use “might actually be beneficial, if you’re talking about traffic flows and the like.”
“There was pretty general information, we really didn’t get an idea of what was going there, or what would the impact be,” he said. “There was lots of additional studies that needed to be undertaken.”
MacKay added he has heard rumours of what kind of commercial development would go up and noted he would not speculate on rumours.
