Mayor Cathy Heron and city manager Kevin Scoble met with the Gazette editorial board for an hour-and-a-half discussion that touched on many topics important to residents of St. Albert.
Ray Gibbon Drive
Heron said the city is continuing to work towards solving the traffic congestion on Ray Gibbon Drive, with or without help from the province.In September the city released a road priority report, which highlighted the importance of improvements to Ray Gibbon Drive. Before the report, Heron said the city had been focusing on twinning the entire project at once, with a $330 million price tag.
Now the city is looking at twinning in stages, starting in the south and heading north, including working with Edmonton to tackle any bottlenecks on the other side of the boundary that may be congesting the St. Albert road.
“I’m pretty excited, but I get optimistic all the time,” Heron said, adding that conversations between the city and the province around the roadway are picking up again.
Heron has a meeting scheduled with the provincial Minister of Transportation Brian Mason, and the Minister of Infrastructure, Sandra Jansen.
The first priority for Ray Gibbon Drive is from 137 Avenue to LeClair Way. Proposed changes would include expanding to 800 metres of four lanes divided arterial road and an upgrade to the LeClair Way intersection.
Municipal Development Plan
The city is reviewing the foundational development planning document, the Municipal Development Plan.The MDP is the underlying document influencing all other city planning documents, from area structure plans to building permits, and the current plan is around 20 years old. The city has a deadline of October 2020 to update it, due to a requirement from the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board’s (EMRB) new growth plan which was approved in October.
The rewrite will cost the city $325,400 this year and $769,000 next year, and will require the delay of area structure plans for Badger Lands and Lakeview Business District. The budgets for those two plans – $200,300 for Badger Lands and $125,100 for Lakeview Business District – will cover the cost of the 2018 work, while 2019 costs are being funded through the capital reserve.
Heron said the city is working as a member of the EMRB to set regional goals for the area, which will be reflected in the MDP.
The city is planning a public consultation exercise, starting Oct. 18 with a website launch and a questionnaire. Nov. 14 and 15 there will be city summit events with panel discussions, workshops and open houses. Popup engagements will take place from November to January and in March and April there will be another questionnaire and open house. The open houses will continue in October and November of 2019.
“A very robust engagement plan has been developed and that is what is different about this from most MDPs … Stakeholders are involved from the onset this time around to build the MDP with us,” Scoble said.
Recreation facilities
Heron said to meet the need for more recreation facilities in the city, council is giving serious thought to having non-profits participate in the process.Right now the two big projects in front of council are the soccer fields and the Active Communities Alberta (ACA) pitch for a joint recreation facility.
Heron noted that the ACA project has been fairly high level and on paper everything looks great, but she has yet to see a detailed business case for how the facility will be run.
“They have never done it before. If somebody who had done it before had approached us I would feel a lot more comfortable so until I see … a detailed business case,” Heron said.
“If they do a poor job and then they forfeit then the city has to take it over, so we have to be careful about it,” the mayor added.
This council is about non-traditional ways of doing things, Heron continued, and it is looking for unique opportunities to finance all of the facility needs in the city.
Transit
Now that the park and ride facility has been funded and planned for south of the city, Heron has her eye on a similar facility for the north.“We need to identify a park and ride location in the north. That needs to be in collaboration with the county and Morinville. They want to use transit too,” Heron said.
The land, nestled near the Anthony Henday just south of St. Albert, will be the northern terminus for Edmonton LRT. Heron said St. Albert’s construction of the final stop is what is bringing the LRT north.
“They recognize that partnership and they are very appreciative of it. It is not a priority for them to bring the LRT north; it's probably more west and south but they will come here before they go to Sherwood Park because we are working with them and Sherwood Park is not,” Heron said.
The Campbell Road Park and Ride Transit Centre will accommodate 800 vehicles on 500 paved stalls and 300 gravelled stalls, with the potential to expand to a total of 1,600 spaces.
The project will cost $30 million, with $20 million provided by Green Trip grant funding and $10 million through Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding.
Once the project is complete Heron said the city can start to look at rerouting the public transit system in St. Albert to be more efficient and effective.
While a councillor from the city of Edmonton has floated the idea of a free city transit service, Heron said she doesn't believe the cost is what is preventing residents from riding public transit in St. Albert.
"I wouldn’t push for free transit in St. Albert. I would consider free for under 18. It has always been a thought of mine just to encourage kids of that age to get used to riding transit," Heron said.
