The city is one step closer to a plan for developing the Employment Lands after council approved the second draft of a development principles document.
The document, which senior planner Yuli Siao presented to council at the Oct. 17 meeting, calls for a focus on medium- and high-density industrial and commercial development within the proposed neighbourhood, located west of Ray Gibbon Drive between Giroux Road and McKenney Avenue.
Although some of its contents were met with some skepticism from some councillors, it was ultimately approved unanimously.
Its contents will be written into the council policy on community design, to be presented to council sometime in 2017, and it will ultimately set the stage for the creation of an Area Structure Plan (ASP).
“The idea here would be putting it into some form of council policy so that it has tenure until a party comes in play and actually develops the ASP,” development services manager Gilles Prefontaine said. “It just puts it into policy until such time as it gets put into bylaw.”
Coun. Cam MacKay proposed an unopposed amendment to the plan, which specifies that while medium and high-density development should be considered where feasible, low-density development would also be acceptable.
“Low density should not be a scary concept,” he said. “There’s a certain amount of wisdom in not precluding low density development, because over time it may grow up to become high density.”
But while no one opposed his amendment, Coun. Cathy Heron emphasized the city should not back away from the high standards set out in the development principles.
“St. Albert is a desirable place to live and we remain that way because we have high standards,” she said. “If we have a dream, it can be achieved.”
Siao reported to council that based on public feedback from residents and developers, there’s support for the development principles that focus on higher-density developments, architectural guidelines, public green spaces and public art.
“Overall reception of the draft principles is positive,” he said. “However, some concerns were expressed over a number of principles that promote high development quality and architectural standards.”
The concern, he explained, is that higher standards might mean higher costs, which could deter developers from wanting to develop on those lands. He said he addressed this in the second draft by placing emphasis on the principles that economic viability must be maintained.
“Essentially, it is a balancing act between quality and cost,” Siao said, adding the city would promote the highest achievable standards.
Prefontaine said the project charter for the ASP will be included as part of the 2018 capital budget deliberations this year. He noted the ASP would include a comprehensive financial impact analysis – one of the main reasons structure plans typically cost upwards of $1 million.
Jonathan Lay, a senior development manager with Genstar, was on hand for council’s discussion of the report. He noted Genstar is currently the only developer that holds any land within the Employment Lands. The city and a group of farmers hold the rest.
He said the company is pleased to see progress on the development of the lands, and excited to see the city continue to grow.
“The draft principles do set a good direction for the neighbourhood,” he said. “They will benefit from some more market guidance.”
Lay said the company is looking forward to seeing an industrial developer get involved and take the lead in getting the project to move forward.
