The sewer line known as Project 9 is back on the agenda on Monday.
Council members will be contemplating finance options for the infrastructure project that’s expected to help kick start development along the western edge of St. Albert.
More properly known as the Phase 3 North Interceptor Trunk Line Project, the sewer line would run from St. Vital Avenue to the Alberta Capital Region Wastewater Commission’s pump station on Sturgeon Road, adding capacity to the city’s sewer system and allowing for development in the Badger Lands, Employment Lands and the lands around Riel.
Council got a peek at five options in December, ranging from developer-led funding to raising the money entirely through tax increases to borrowing externally or internally to pay for the estimated $40-million project.
During a strategic planning session in January, council asked staff for more information on possible iterations of an option where the money would be borrowed externally and the debt serviced using uncommitted money from the city’s offsite levy recoveries fund, including the idea of using money from that fund as a down payment of some kind.
Funding options for the project are on the schedule for Monday’s council standing committee of the whole meeting, which is more informal than a regular council meeting. The public agenda package with the staff report wasn’t available prior to press time to see how the options presented in December may have evolved.
During the mayor’s 2015 state of the city address, Mayor Nolan Crouse warned about the risks of proceeding or doing nothing, calling it a “risk reward situation.”
“The economy could weaken, developers could take advantage of the opportunity and flip their land if council raises expectations, or they could sit after the city spent the money. Worst case is that we spend the money and no development occurs for years,” Crouse told the crowd.
In an interview on Thursday, Crouse said he thought the main point of the report on Monday would be further discussion of the funding options.
“I believe we’re going to be just talking about it,” he said. He said he thinks it likely the staff report would be quite thorough, but hadn’t seen the report yet.
The mayor wants to understand the potential impacts of the best and worst scenarios before proceeding.
“I want to understand … what does it really mean?” he said. The project has significance to both the city and developers.
“To the developers it’s extremely (important) in the short term. To the city it’s very important in the long term,” Crouse said.
The possibility of a third-party investment by a company like an Alberta-arm of the Warren Buffett company Berkshire Hathaway was also floated in December. In January’s strategic planning session council heard there was another meeting planned on that topic planned soon, but there have been no formal updates during public portions of council meetings since.
