City councillors put on a unified front Tuesday, unanimously approving the largest borrowing bylaw in in St. Albert’s history, to service new industrial land in the growing west.
The bylaw authorizes the city to borrow as much as $78.375 million, including a 25 per cent contingency, to service and make ready for sale lots in the Lakeview Business District, but current estimates predict the work will cost closer to $62.7 million or less.
Mayor Cathy Heron noted the Project 9 sewer line expansion borrowing bylaw was for $40 million, but the city ended up spending closer to $24 million.
The $62.7 million price tag for the necessary infrastructure in the Lakeview District west of Ray Gibbon Drive and south of Regional Road 540 itself has a 25 per cent project contingency built into it. That means the final cost to the city could be as low as $44.45 million ($40.45 million for construction plus 10 per cent or $4 million for project management).
The funds would be borrowed only when they’re needed at an assumed rate of 5.87 per cent and 20-year terms; a better rate at the time will save the city some coin.
The city expects to collect an average of $37,000 in taxes per developed acre based on 2023 rates, with total revenues over 30 years topping $326 million.
The project will see the city conduct design and engineering work; buy the land for arterial roads, extend a four-lane Range Road 260 south, which bisects the district; extend a four-lane Meadowview Drive west, which borders it to the south; and build a sanitary lift station and force main.
Council approved first reading of the bylaw in October. Introducing the motion for second and third reading Jan. 21, Coun. Ken MacKay said investing in Lakeview was reiterated as a top priority of council during their two-day strategic planning retreat Jan. 13 and 14.
“Some of the growth we’re going to see because of what we’re doing today is generational,” he said. “This is significant for the future development of our community and the benefits it is going to bring.”
Coun. Wes Brodhead said Lakeview will help the city address its longstanding priority of increasing the commercial and industrial tax base to shift the burden away from residents.
“I’m pumped to be here,” he said. “This is a significant body of work that has been important to council” since at least 2018, which “goes to show how long it takes to build a community. You have to sort of have that long-term vision and the will to pursue it to an end.”
Coun. Sheena Hughes said the city administration put a “great deal of work” into ensuring the Lakeview loan is being taken out with as little risk as possible: 76 per cent of cost of the project will be recovered through off-site levies as it is built out.
“The city has already started to work towards getting this land filled as it is being built out and we’ve gone through the full risk analysis to make sure this has decreased the likelihood of having this imposed on taxpayers in the future,” she said. “This is not a flippant decision.”
As Heron put it to city CAO Bill Fletcher:
“Mr. Fletcher, you’ve got a big job ahead of you of building it, and if we build it, they better come,” she said. “It’s about filling those spots now, but that’s where I think the risk is low from the demand we see in the community for industrial land.”