The public has one last chance to give feedback on the smart city master plan.
A draft of the plan was presented to council on Tuesday and has now been sent out for another month’s worth of public input.
The final public input period will end June 24, with a revised draft expected to appear before council in September.
Council members had mixed reactions to the plan, which included 22 strategies to help guide St. Albert to use technology to better the community.
Some were worried about the possible costs some of the associated projects could incur.
“My major concern with all of this is cost,” said Coun. Sheena Hughes. She said she is concerned that because actions are listed in the smart city plan the projects would be considered by staff to be approved.
“They’re not just ideas if we’re putting them in a master plan and asking for approval,” she said.
Staff have said that many of the ideas and proposed actions in the plan will be coming back individually for council consideration over time, including during this fall’s budget process. Some of the items carry a cost, like in the case of connecting municipal facilities on high speed broadband, while others would likely be of no cost to the city.
Coun. Cathy Heron was the council representative on the smart city master plan steering committee and also noted many will come back to council for approval.
“The possibilities in here are endless,” Heron said of the plan. She said this gives the city a holistic view of innovation with an eye to purpose, rather than pursuing innovation simply because it’s cool or fun.
She said several communities are waiting to see St. Albert’s plan.
“A lot of municipalities want to follow what we’ve done,” Heron said.
“This was a fascinating report,” said Coun. Tim Osborne, noting the report was about much more than broadband Internet, though that had dominated council questions.
He said he loved the idea of, when doing some municipal purchasing, putting out a request for innovation to solve a municipal problem rather than approaching the issue as the city has always done.
“Certainly there is risk in innovation, but I think there is also substantial reward,” Osborne said. He noted it’s likely that residents would consider any technology that could improve traffic would be a priority.
Mayor Nolan Crouse noted there had already been significant public consultation – the report said more than 2,000 stakeholders were part of the various consultations – and the committee’s meetings were public and often attended by the curious.
“This isn’t like there was a bunch of work done in a smoke-filled basement behind closed doors,” Crouse said.
Coun. Bob Russell asked staff to create a tighter breakdown and critical path of the suggested projects.
“I don’t want to have to read a novel to find it,” he said.
There was some disagreement about passing a recommendation which would include developing an implementation plan. Hughes suggested postponing the recommendation that included that measure since the plan isn’t approved yet, but that motion was defeated 5-2.
Staff said the implementation plan, which was part of a suite of recommendations from the steering committee, will be developed if council approves the final version of the plan in September.
Resident Mike Killick appeared at council and suggested that while the proposed document had many good ideas, he had some concerns. Those concerns included the idea of the city putting in empty conduit when utilities are being installed and the idea that St. Albert needs higher speed Internet. He said residents are able to pay for higher speeds if they want.
He said the focus of the smart city plan should be on data and applications rather than building any networks.
For more information on the plan: www.stalbert.ca/smartcity
