A pending land deal in St. Albert’s north has the local Chamber of Commerce hopeful that other landowners in the area will be prompted to sell, opening the door to more commercial and industrial development in the city.
Melcor Developments is close to finalizing a deal with members of the Tappauf family on about 38 acres of land for commercial development north of Walmart.
For the longest time, the family was part of a local group dubbed the “unwilling landowners” by Mayor Nolan Crouse because they wouldn’t sell their land to developers for commercial and industrial use.
This deal may prompt other landowners to sell as well, said Lynda Moffat of the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce.
“I am not sure that the sale of the land will convince them as much as seeing development start to take place,” she said.
“I think it’s the actual action of the development itself that will prompt them to take some action because of course it becomes more valuable.”
Commercial development at the city’s north end will generate non-residential tax dollars and improve returns on residential tax assessments, she said, but she stressed that the city also needs other non-residential developments to work towards that goal.
“We need to see businesses going up that are not necessarily based on shoppers but rather on the manufacturing sector or servicing sector or that sort of thing,” she said.
Last week, Crouse told the Gazette that Melcor had already acquired the land. But Susan Monson, senior development manager with Melcor, said the deal isn’t yet final.
“We are in the process of buying some land. It is not closed yet. But it’s very close and so there’s not too, too much I can tell you since we don’t own it yet,” she said.
“We did meet with the mayor and we did let him know that we are closing on it this month.”
Crouse said he was very happy that Melcor had chosen to purchase the land.
The Tappauf family has owned farmland in the area for generations but as St. Albert has moved closer to their lands they’ve sold property to developers, he said.
“And so it’s really important for us from a commercial or non-residential point of view that these lands got sold to a developer,” Crouse said.
“So moving in from farmlands into potential commercial was great news for me.”
Crouse has previously said there would be no further commercial development in St. Albert until developers have willing landowners who sell their land.
He also acknowledged that it would take a lot of work to make these landowners – most of them local farmers – sell to developers or develop on their own. To push the process, city council approved changes to the municipal development plan in late January.
The changes redistricted an area since dubbed the employment lands – which border the western edge of Ray Gibbon Drive and consist of about 700 acres – for predominantly industrial and commercial use.
While he could not comment on the specifics of the sale, Crouse said it might have been the price that convinced the Tappauf family to sell – and a change in climate for Melcor.
“Melcor was always looking for assurance that we are going to be friendly toward a development and the Tappaufs quite frankly wanted to make sure they were getting the best value for their land,” he said, referring to previous meetings with the family and the developer.
Over the past year, he said the city has made it easier for developers to put servicing agreements in place. St. Albert also added to its engineering staff and solved complications with levies, water and sewer services.
Crouse added that construction on Ray Gibbon Drive has become an important aspect for development in the city and brought “clarity to the road network.” Like Moffat, Crouse now hopes that the deal will convince other landowners in the area to sell their property.
“Because development is going to proceed around the various farmlands,” he said.
“And so those farmers, whether it be the Henrys or Bokenfohrs or the Tappaufs, are best off to sell their property and allow the developers to do their thing.”
The Tappauf family was not available for comment.
