The city won't consider changing what kind of businesses are allowed in a section of its downtown until next year, a time-frame that has a local St. Albert business owner frustrated.
Coun. Sheena Hughes gave notice of a motion to come forward on Monday that would change the Land Use Bylaw (LUB) requirements in the city's Boardwalk District — a small segment of properties adjacent to the river from St. Albert Trail to the Perron Street Bridge. Hughes ultimately withdrew the motion following the release of an administrative backgrounder indicating the request would interfere with the city's ongoing LUB review, set to wrap up early next year.
Kirsty Fulton, one of the owners of swim and first aid school What the First Aid?, started up her business in January in anticipation of a spike in demand for lessons with the upcoming repair-related closure of Fountain Park Recreation Centre.
While the school currently rents pool space in Edmonton, their first-aid training is conducted in St. Albert.
Fulton addressed council Sept. 19., asking them to redistrict the city’s Boardwalk District to allow her business to operate. What The First Aid? has office space in a professional building in the district, which includes a boardroom and a small office Fulton said is used as a supply closet. The school teaches first aid out of the boardroom to classes of around four to five people.
However, Fulton's business is licensed as a commercial school within St. Albert, a commercial designation not permitted in the Boardwalk District.
Fulton said areas where the city does permit commercial schools to operate — such as high-traffic areas of St. Albert's downtown — charge significantly more rent to tenants.
Additionally, while Fulton said the school only rents their office space and is given free use of the boardroom in their building for training; if they moved elsewhere they would have to rent the training room themselves and therefore pay rent for a much larger space.
“We are in a facility that does allow this kind of space, it’s just the bylaws don’t allow it and it’d be nice to see changes that allow small business to thrive instead of being put into an area where we can’t afford rent,” Fulton said.
According to the city’s Land Use Bylaw (LUB), the boardwalk district “is to ensure the orderly transition of the district into a unique small-scale development area integrated with the Mission neighbourhood, the Red Willow Park setting, the downtown and surrounding development.”
Examples of permitted land uses within the district include restaurant and drinking establishments with up to 40 seats, health services, a cannabis retail store, and a specialty store. Examples of businesses currently in Boardwalk District include the Running Room and the Cajun House.
City undergoing LUB review
The city is currently in the middle of reviewing its Land Use Bylaw (LUB), with changes to come forward for council next year.
At an Oct. 3 meeting where Coun. Sheena Hughes followed up on Fulton’s concerns, council heard an amendment solely to the Boardwalk District would result in delays to the wider review project.
“We actually anticipate more than likely consolidating districts,” Adryan Slaght, the city's director of planning and development, said. “We’ll likely be talking about not having a Boardwalk District."
He added a typical LUB amendment requires four-to-six months, which includes a public engagement process.
The backgrounder at Monday's meeting notes the city's planning department relies on 'fees for service' for LUB changes, with standard redistricting fees costing some $6,400.
Administration cautioned against proceeding with a redistricting outside of the city's existing process, as it would prioritize one applicant over all other applicants also looking to redistrict within the city.
In an interview Friday, Fulton said the city supplied options in lieu of the redistricting that were “not options at all,” for example to rent space at the Northern Alberta Business Incubator (NABI) for some $30 an hour.
Instead, the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce has offered use of their boardroom for free, Fulton said, but she noted the room is only available when not already in use, meaning the school must be careful with scheduling.
Fulton said she has heard from the city that the Land Use Bylaw (LUB) changes might not come into effect until spring of 2023.
“It’s been frustrating,” Fulton said. “We’ve found a temporary solution, but who knows how long it will last?”
