Seven hundred signatures, one parking lot plan — and one million, two thousand, five hundred dollars to go.
The volunteers of the St. Albert Botanic Park achieved one not-so-little victory Monday, Nov. 25, when city councillors voted to pay for a plan to pave the popular attraction’s beleaguered parking lot.
It will be safer, more accessible, less gravelly, and much more expensive, if council ever funds the construction.
The 2025 budget will now include $100,000 for the engineering and design of the lot. It will not include the $1,002,500 it’s expected it could cost to actually build it.
That figure includes an unusually large 50 per cent contingency because without that design work, a construction estimate can't be precise, according to a backgrounder from the city’s department of engineering. The work may well cost less; it could also cost more.
Lynette Reynolds told council she and other Botanic Park volunteers collected 700 signatures on an unofficial petition supporting the paving.
She told the Gazette after the meeting the group filled “two or three sheets” with names during the two days they were able to have a booth at the St. Albert Farmers’ Market over the warmer months. They got more signatures at the park’s office and gift shop, and Reynolds pounded the pavement to source support at seniors residences, “a couple of schools,” and even one of her own condo board meetings.
She said she’s disappointed council didn’t fund the construction.
“I’m glad for the analysis. That’s a starting point,” she said at St. Albert Place. “I know money is always a big problem (but) I’d be curious to see the other projects which are a priority.”
A staff report says the Botanic Park lot just doesn’t make the mark at the moment.
“The (parking lot’s) charter was evaluated within the Capital Projects Prioritization Matrix and was not recommended for funding as part of the 2025 budget,” it reads.
The City Parking Lot Structure Upgrades charter, as it’s now known, was requested by city council in 2018. It lists 13 gravel parking lots that could be upgraded to asphalt, and costs out eight of them. Those eight represent more than $11 million in work.
The Botanic Park lot's charter was removed from the city’s 10-year capital plan in 2021.
Coun. Mike Killick brought the motion. He said there are people walking the park year-round, and it would be nice in winter especially to have an asphalt lot. It’s used as an access point to the city’s trail network, too.
“It is a well-visited and used site that has incorporated a variety of accessibility improvements to help visitors and users with mobility through the area and provide connections to the larger city trail network,” the backgrounder reads.
“One consideration for improvement to help support improved mobility is the paving of the parking lot, as the existing gravel structure may act as a barrier for some users with mobility challenges and does not meet current engineering standards for a parking lot.”
Councillors were told two Augusts ago the city had not received any complaints about the state of the Botanic Park parking lot. That hasn’t changed, but Coun. Killick says that’s because the folks who use it – the volunteers at least – aren’t the type to gripe.
“This group of volunteers are of an age group that we don’t complain,” Coun. Killick said, including himself. “We just get on and do it.
“They just get out there and push the poor guy out of the mud who’s stuck in his wheelchair. They don’t put in a request and wait three days.”
The Botanic Park, though it may be closely associated with the Botanical Arts City’s identity, is actually a lessee of St. Albert. City staff warned against setting a precedent by funding a capital improvement for a leaseholder in contravention of existing policy.
The leaseholder is responsible for the parking lot.
Coun. Wes Brodhead asked whether the volunteers had attempted any fundraising for the parking lot, and how they were able to build a new garage this year.
Reynolds said there are between 40 and 50 of them, with constant turnover, and most are seniors. The fundraising they do now barely covers their operating costs, which includes landscaping, plants/seeds, gas for equipment and insurance, to say nothing of the time spend tending the garden itself.
“We lose people regularly,” Reynolds said. “Just that work is time-consuming and tiring. Fundraising, getting grant money is another big, big job. We’re already spread thin.”
She said a grant and a “large donation” from the contractor helped get the garage built. It’s used to store vehicles including trucks, ATVs and a new golf cart and equipment, and for some activities such as spring potting.
“I love your gardens,” Coun. Brodhead said. “Nobody is arguing at the need. The question is there is lots that need to be paved.”
The park hosts two or three weddings every weekend during the summer. The events bring between 50 and 150 people, some in large vehicles like buses and limousines.
“For that reason alone, a lot would be legitimate,” Coun. Killick said.
City staff now have all of calendar 2025 to develop a design. Reynolds told the Gazette the volunteers would look for grants to help pay for construction in the meantime.
“It should have been done long ago,” she said. “It’s one of the showpieces of the city.”
