City council will withhold support of proposed changes to an acreage subdivision north of St. Albert until the Capital Region Board (CRB) weighs in on the matter.
Mayor Nolan Crouse says the city should delay sending its support pending the outcome at the CRB.
“I believe we should let the process and the application proceed, hear the results of that, then proceed,” Crouse told council. “It's 30 more days in a big picture issue like this. I don't think that's much to wait.”
Prior to the postponement, council was reviewing a proposed zoning change to the Northern Lights subdivision north of St. Albert near the Pro-North Industrial Park. The area is located in the Sturgeon-St. Albert intermunicipal development plan boundary, meaning the city's support is necessary for the changes to proceed.
The area was originally touted in 2001 as a ‘working-man's' subdivision, with part residential acreages and part residential-business zoning. When the development was sold last year, the new owner wanted to get rid of the ‘working man's' lots and make it all country residential.
Bill Minnes, a planning consultant working with the subdivision's new owner, said amending the bylaw would allow the new owner to market the properties better and ensure a high rate of success in selling the area to new homeowners.
“I think the bottom line of this amendment is to correct the mistake made by the last owner of selling $500,000 or more homes, with homes that have businesses,” he told council during a five-minute presentation. “If Sturgeon County supports it, and St. Albert supports it, I can't see the CRB refusing it.”
Former St. Albert mayor Richard Plain spoke out against the proposed bylaw change, saying that it would erase years of hard work and money spent on giving the originally planned project the planning permissions it needed for the plan.
“It was felt that this subdivision would be unique and create jobs,” Plain told council. “I think we should stay with our original plan.”
