St. Albert city council took the first small steps on the long journey toward the redevelopment of the downtown core this week.
While no big decisions were made on how a revamped downtown would look, councillors began outlining the process of how those decisions would be made at their regular meeting Monday. Council approved the terms of reference for amendments to the land use bylaw and the Municipal Development Plan that will be necessary to implement the Downtown Area Redevelopment Plan (DARP), as well as starting to figure out who will oversee that implementation.
Council was presented with four options for the review of possible downtown designs:
• contracting an urban designer;
• hiring a full-time urban designer;
• establishing a downtown design review panel; or
• maintaining the current design review process.
Overall, councillors seemed to favour the establishment of a downtown design review panel, but were concerned with costs that would come from paying three panel members an honorarium of $100 per meeting for an estimated 15 meetings a year, as well as potential additional staff costs.
“This idea of a downtown design review panel speaks to me, because it speaks of citizen engagement, but I do have problems with the dollars as well,” said Coun. Wes Brodhead.
Administration later clarified that the 0.65 full-time equivalent included in the report was an estimate of how much time might be covered by existing staff.
In the end, a fifth option was added to the list of a design review panel working entirely on a volunteer basis. Councillors were confident that qualified members could be found who would be willing to work pro bono.
“I believe we have a great community … we will find a wonderful group of volunteer people who would be prepared to do this,” Mayor Nolan Crouse said. “This isn’t about rebuilding St. Albert. This is about nudging St. Albert along into the future as far as its downtown.”
City staff will now review the options with interested stakeholders, including potential land developers in the area, and report back to council with a recommendation on a preferred option on Nov. 21.
As for the debate on the terms of reference for the implementation amendments, concerns were expressed about the $135-million cost and scope of the entire project.
“The cost is so onerous that I would like to be certain the residents of St. Albert really know what they’re buying into,” said Coun. Cam MacKay, who also asked questions of legislative services staff about the criteria needed for a plebiscite. “And if they approve, and this is something they’d like to do to beautify their city, I’m certainly all for it.”
“This is a very ambitious project for the city and, as Coun. MacKay has already alluded to, there is an affordability question,” added Coun. Malcolm Parker.
However, others urged their colleagues to keep in mind that was just the first step in the process.
“[We need to] understand what we are voting on here, and that’s the changes to the land use bylaw and the Municipal Development Plan, so we can be consistent moving forward with the principles contained in DARP,” Brodhead said.
Brodhead also asked administration to consider more public open houses than were currently included in the plan.
“While [DARP] certainly affects the downtown core of St. Albert, it’s really a plan that’s owned by the citizenry at large, and affects and is of interest to everybody in the community,” he said.
