Two Sturgeon County developments will come out from under the influence of St. Albert under a new deal to change a joint planning document for the two municipalities.
A joint council committee last week endorsed a move to change the Sturgeon-St. Albert intermunicipal development plan (IDP), exempting certain lands from it.
The IDP is a legally binding bylaw that outlines future development in a 2,666-hectare area surrounding St. Albert. It is designed to keep development patterns in line and plot out future annexations.
The proposed changes, which still require the support of both councils after public hearings, would exempt all 1,337 hectares of land St. Albert annexed from Sturgeon in 2007, along with Quail Ridge and Northern Lights, two acreage developments in Sturgeon County,
Mayor Nolan Crouse said last week the deal is a good solution for both communities.
“Both municipalities have needs and we have to find ways to compromise so both municipalities have their needs met.”
The two Sturgeon developments have been a sticking point in the past for St. Albert. Quail Ridge is a 90-lot acreage subdivision on Sturgeon Road just north of River Lot 56 along the Sturgeon River. Northern Lights is a country residential development near the St. Albert airport.
St. Albert previously objected to Quail Ridge because it didn’t feel the city was appropriately consulted and worried about the impact it would have on the city.
Jodie Wacko, director of land development for Beaverbrook Developments, the company behind Quail Ridge, said removing it from the IDP will make life easier.
Wacko said the IDP challenges have been a tough needle to thread as part of the lengthy approval process for Quail Ridge.
“The IDP has a lot of history to it that goes back several mayors and several councils,” he said. “It does make navigating the approval process that much more difficult.”
Wacko said he is confident the development will have no impact on St. Albert.
“What we are proposing is 90 lots, 225 people, probably to be built out over four to five years,” he said. “The City of St. Albert is a city of over 60,000 people I don’t see how 90 lots are going to have an impact on this.”
The proposal would also exempt land south of Sturgeon Road that Beaverbrook currently holds, but Wacko said there are no concrete plans for that land.
“We certainly bought it to develop, but what it is going to look like we really don’t know.”
Even though his company doesn’t own any land in the annexed area of St. Albert, Wacko said the broader deal between the two communities make sense.
“It allows them to essentially to get on with business and deal with the issues with some level of autonomy and represent their own ratepayers and communities.”
Several years ago the Northern Lights subdivision was subject to a long round of negotiations between the two municipalities and a court challenge before they finally settled on a suitable plan.
This agreement would allow Sturgeon to make changes to the initial plan, without St. Albert’s consent.
Mayor Don Rigney and Coun. Ken McGillis who both sit on the IDP committee declined to talk about the deal in great detail because it hasn’t gone to Sturgeon County council.
