“Speaking from the heart” without a presentation or notes, Travis Murray said he moved to Riverside with his family eight years ago based on the existing approved area structure plan (ASP).
"We’ve always wanted to live in St. Albert,” he said. “It’s expensive, but for us it was worth putting our life savings into our home.”
Murray was alone in speaking to city council in person at their last regular meeting of the year Tuesday, Dec. 17, but his message was repeated and repeated again in correspondence received by the city and landowner: Don’t build a six-storey apartment building in our neighbourhood.
Murray said he had been assured by “everyone,” including neighbours, such a structure would never be built in his backyard.
"That will absolutely decimate the skyline of the area.”
Murray was speaking in opposition to a redistricting that will allow development on land south of Rankin Drive and west of Meadowview Lane (not to be confused with nearby Meadowview Drive). The land is also directly east of a new neighbourhood.
The concerns he listed are often raised in opposition to increased density: too much traffic for the roads, too much danger for the yet-to-be-built school nearby, more crime, lower property values, unpleasant sightlines created by buildings out of character with the existing community.
“It’s already not great getting in and out of Riverside, even if we go over to Meadowview,” Murray said, urging councillors to picture themselves in his shoes.
Blaydon Dibben, representing landowner L.A. Ventures, said the family-owned company bought the land 20 years ago as an investment and doesn’t intend to build anything. They applied for the changes to be made on paper so the land is developable and therefore will fetch a higher price when they sell it.
City planner Sajid Sifat said the neighbourhood had built out since the original Area Structure Plan was approved. The land in question was zoned urban reserve (UR) until city council approved the new Land Use Bylaw in October, which created a new zone for holding land to be developed called future urban reserve (FUR).
He said a mix of low- and medium-density housing was always part of the plan for the broader neighbourhood.
The changes approved Dec. 17 mean an apartment complex up to 18 metres tall could be built on the north parcel and small lot residential builds are permitted to the south, with two narrow parcels now districted for neighbourhood parks.
Sifat said medium-density residential (MDR) doesn’t necessarily mean an apartment building. Townhouses could also be built there.
Coun. Mike Killick raised the concerns of residents who told the city and the applicant they think the traffic created by the additional density and the proposed school site would be too much for the road network.
Sifat said the overall density of the neighbourhood was only increasing from 32.2 to 32.6 units per hectare, well below the 40 units per hectare requirement for new development (Riverside was grandfathered in and does not need to meet that quota).
“Overall, the ASP density is largely staying the same.”
Coun. Natalie Joly is supportive of increasing density in the city.
“High-density housing is of critical importance to development in St. Albert,” she said. “We need it desperately.
“This isn’t going to be developed tomorrow, but as many units as we can get up are going to help our residents live here and help our kids stay here and not have to leave to Edmonton.”
Mayor Cathy Heron said balancing growth with the concerns of existing residents is one of the hardest things council has to do.
Coun. Wes Brodhead also sympathized with residents in the neighbourhood who may have been surprised to learn more people could be moving in to their picturesque corner of the city.
“It was always intended to be developed in some manner,” he said. “It’s hard not to feel for people, but it’s also the process we go through. Whether the current owner chooses to develop or sell, it will be developed at some point.”
Council approved both the new Area Structure Plan (ASP) and the accompanying amendment to the city’s broader Land Use Bylaw 5-2 with councillors Sheena Hughes and Shelley Biermanski opposed in both cases.
