St. Albertans will finally have their say on the proposed redevelopment of the Grandin mall site.
A public hearing has been scheduled for Monday at 5 p.m. in council chambers.
Amacon is asking for changes to the Land Use Bylaw that would allow for three towers of 65 to 80 metres, rather than the five 70-metre towers that were originally envisioned when the developer first bought the property in 2007.
Currently the bylaw does not allow for buildings over 19 storeys (or 70 metres) in height. The existing bylaw also accounts for five high-rises on the site.
The developer is also seeking changes to the Downtown Area Redevelopment Plan (DARP) that would permit them to reduce the amount of retail and visitor parking.
Amacon first purchased the land in 2007. It was able to secure permission from the city to build five towers up to 19 storeys on Sir Winston Churchill Drive in 2008. The plan was to build an urban village that would house 1,200 residential units and 156,900 square feet of commercial space.
Today, Amacon is seeking to reduce the number of towers, redistribute the density and expand the commercial gross floor area by another 5,400 square feet.
After putting off development due to the economic slowdown of 2009 to 2011, the developer decided to take a different approach to the site. Rather than create a wall of buildings along Sir Winston Churchill Drive, the developer updated the plan using a less repetitive pattern.
Creating eight different buildings at differing scales “breaks up the massing” and “opens up the site,” said Amacon during its fall 2015 public presentation.
But reducing the number of towers from five to three, also means making the towers taller, in order to maintain the same density.
Amacon presented the new plan to the community in spring 2014 (and again last October), but it is coming before council for the first time on Monday, as the developer looks towards laying out the legislative groundwork for its four-phase build out.
“We need to rezone this entire site in order to continue with the development,” said Simon Taylor, director of development at Amacon.
Some residents, like long-time Grandin resident Janet Dennis, feel that the city has already bent enough to Amacon’s will.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard the parable about the trader and the camel. The camel wants his nose in the tent because it’s raining. By the end the camel has the whole tent. That’s sort of how I’m feeling – they keep asking for more and more concessions,” said Dennis.
This summer, Amacon increased the height of the two southwest buildings currently under construction, from four to five storeys, after an inconsistency between the bylaw and DARP was found.
This angered many residents, who voiced concerns over traffic congestion, noise, overall development time and shadows. Many Grandin area residents were also concerned that the development would change the city’s “feel.”
DARP allows for 20-storey buildings along Sir Winston Churchill Drive, as well as special landmark towers of up to 25 storeys.
Taylor could not comment on timelines for the next phase, which include one of the 25-storey high-rises, stating that construction would be market driven.
Quick Facts
• The site represents 8.3 per cent of the downtown and 20 per cent of developable area in the city’s core. <br /><br />• At 3.9 hectares, it is the largest redevelopment in downtown held by a single owner.<br /><br />• Once complete, the development would house approximately 2,800 people – over half the anticipated growth for St. Albert’s downtown in the next 30 years.
