Malcolm Parker still isn’t convinced smart growth is the way to go in St. Albert.
The chair of the St. Albert economic development advisory committee (SAEDAC) said he was glad to see some changes made in the hybrid smart growth plan presented to council on Monday night, but is still concerned the city is looking at an idea that might not work.
“My overall view is that it’s somewhere between the smart growth and conventional plans,” said Parker. “Obviously they’ve addressed some concerns … [but] we want to see some economic development and growth in here.”
Onufry Shinkewski gave council an overview of SAEDAC’s smart growth concerns during a presentation at Mondy’s meeting. The advisory board said the full smart growth plan would cost the city more and take longer to fully develop than the conventional model.
Parker said one of the highlights for SAEDAC is a potential industrial park in the area. The hybrid plan will leave 283 hectares west of Ray Gibbon Drive and north of Giroux Road for a light industrial park, which Parker said is vital to the city’s bottom line.
“The overarching goal of SAEDAC is to get to that 80/20 balance of taxes,” he said. “We have such an imbalance of taxes, and [the industrial park] is a logical place to go.”
St. Albert Chamber of Commerce CEO Lynda Moffat said she has noticed improvements in the hybrid plan, including addressing issues surrounding residential density in the neighbourhood. Under the smart growth plan, there would be 72.9 dwelling units per net residential hectare, while the hybrid plan would only allow 54.8 dwelling units.
Both Moffat and chamber chair Mike Howes expressed concern about the potential lack of commercial space. The hybrid plan would see big-box commercial along St. Albert Trail, with smaller scale commercial in the transit-orientated development, two neighbourhood centres and street-front space along a new arterial road.
“We certainly want to see parks and walkways, but we want to see a balance,” Howes said in a separate interview. “They’re certainly listening, but they need to go further.”
Coun. Gareth Jones expressed dismay with the hybrid plan, saying many of the answers administration provided were vague and didn’t answer council’s initial questions. He said visits to smart growth projects in the United States and the United Kingdom only strengthened his view that smart growth isn’t for St. Albert.
“It’s all infill, where the infrastructure already was,” he said about successful smart growth developments. “There was one place, just outside Houston, that was a little like St. Albert … but that was it.”
Parker said he is looking forward to the smart growth open house on March 11 at the St. Albert United Church, located at 20 Green Grove Drive, from 4 to 7 p.m. He believes the residents who come will give the city a good idea of what they want to help St. Albert grow.
