Sturgeon County landowners living within the boundaries of the St. Albert-Sturgeon intermunicipal development plan (IDP) told county councillors they want to see the nine-year-old bylaw dissolved.
Scrapping the IDP is a sentiment that has gained traction among landowners, and politicians from both communities now say that is the direction they are heading toward. Exactly how they get there appears to remain in dispute.
About 15 landowners told county councillors at a March 4 open house that they want their land freed from the restrictions of the IDP. The bylaw governs land uses in a fringe area around St. Albert, and any changes require approval on both sides.
Sturgeon County Mayor Don Rigney said he heard the message from landowners loud and clear.
“Our landowners were very interested in getting out from under the IDP.”
St. Albert Coun. James Burrows, was in the audience, and said there was no mistaking the landowners’ wishes when it comes to the IDP.
“We heard it pretty overwhelmingly that they all want it ripped up.”
The future of the joint planning document resurfaced this year when a St. Albert-Sturgeon committee proposed removing all 1,337 hectares that St. Albert annexed in 2007 from the document and taking out the Northern Lights and Quail Ridge acreage subdivisions.
Sturgeon landowners at the meeting said if all of St. Albert’s land is going to be removed from the plan, at the very least all of the land in Sturgeon should as well.
Burrows said that sentiment is growing beyond landowners, with both councils realizing that ending the plan is good policy.
“There has been a lot of good will built up over the last six or seven months,” he said. “We are all reasonable people, we don’t even need the IDP anymore. We can sit down together to plan out the future of our two communities together, to prosper together.”
Rigney said the IDP hasn’t delivered on promises of easing tensions between the two communities. Rather than spending all this time planning, they should be working with landowners.
“That was what the IDP was supposed to do and it didn’t work,” he said. “The main point is to sit down with the landowners and see what their vision is and see what we can do to work with them.”
St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse, who also attended the open house, said solving the issue isn’t as simple as ripping up the document and moving away.
“Both councils are saying that it is subject to the details. Going ahead and grabbing scissors and cutting it up, is just not going to work.”
Crouse said something needs to replace the current IDP.
“If it stays in place it has to be amended, and if it doesn’t stay in place we have to decide what is the framework like without an IDP.”
Rigney said he is not sure removing the IDP and replacing it with some other framework is a good idea, but he is willing to consider it.
While both sides have the power to unilaterally pull out of the document Rigney said Sturgeon is willing to negotiate before making any hard decisions.
“It makes sense to make a reasonable effort to see if we can come up with some solution. It takes a bit of vision and a bit of courage to do that.”
