St. Albert city council will hold a public hearing at its final regular meeting before summer break to debate the redistricting of a parcel of land to facilitate a school site in the north end of the city, despite the lack of proper servicing for the proposed location of the school, according to a city report.
The approximately 21-acre piece of land just north of Erin Ridge North would see 4 acres donated by Landrex to the St. Albert Public School Board, with the remaining 16 acres coming from the 10 per cent Municipal Reserve requirement. The land sits immediately north along Edgefield Way within the Northeast Area Structure Plan (ASP).
In the Request for Decision on Bylaw 19/2025 published on the city's website, a number of concerns are listed relating to the proposed redistricting, with city administration recommending the bylaw be defeated by council and calling the redistricting "premature."
Among those concerns were the servicing constraints in the city's northeast and cost, as well as an overdedication of Municipal Reserve.
The report says that due to the city's Municipal Development Plan (MDP), school sites are first taken as Municipal Reserve through a subdivision process. Landrex is donating approximately 20-acres of land to St. Albert Public School Board, an additional four acres above what they are required to.
The report says with an overdedication of around 10 acres of Municipal Reserve land, after Landrex's additional donation of four acres, the city would be required to purchase the leftover five acres at market value, which it estimates would be in the low seven figures.
The Northeast ASP requires that a Neighbourhood Plan, which currently doesn't exist for the area, confirm locations and capacity for any required wastewater lift stations.
The report also says servicing the lands in the northeast would require an estimated $74.1 million upfront cost paid by the city. The report also says the school site may trigger further development in the northeast.
The report said this would advance "infrastructure investments earlier than anticipated, with costs in the order of [approximately] $232 million over the next 25 years."
Landrex vice-president of operations Mike Yochim said the developer is in discussions with the city on an interim solution to servicing and increasing the servicing capacity.
"In the day, when nobody's home using that capacity, the school is then using that capacity," Yochim said. "And then at night when everybody's at home using the capacity, the school is not using capacity."
He added this interim solution has yet to be approved by city administration.
The report says it would result in an available capacity of 7.7 litres per second, but adds that a high school would absorb almost all of this available capacity, and thus the interim solution would not be able to include this school site location and residential development concurrently.
The report also raises the issue of after-school programs. These include music and sports practices, and plays or events that may occur during peak evening flow. Yochim said Landrex has discussed this with the school board, if it is an issue by the time the school is operational should it be approved.
"We're working with the city to have a permanent solution on capacity and if we don't at that time, the school board is comfortable in making arrangements that the after-school programs would be reduced or even eliminated if it needs to be at that point," he said.
St. Albert Public Schools board chair John Allen said the potential high school site is extremely important for the board's capital plan.
"Our preference, and it's been our preference for five years in our capital plan, has been and remains to build our next high school in the northeast," Allen said.
With Bellerose Composite High School undergoing a modernization, Allen said, it can be expected to host around 1,300 students.
"We'd like to put our third high school in the northeast, north of the river because we do have population growth and population pressure in our junior and middle schools in our Div One and Div Two schools there, so locating the high school there for us makes the most sense," he said.
St. Albert Public Schools spokesperson Paula Power said in an email that the northeast "is vital, as it geographically disperses the high school population across St. Albert, thereby creating less strain on the city's traffic infrastructure, and gives equitable access to St. Albert's students and families. We will be attending the public hearing and speaking in support of the redistricting."
The public hearing is postponed until September. Residents interested in addressing council during the public hearing may register by emailing [email protected].
