St. Albert is set to make a once-in-a-decade decision by the end of 2019 on where a new campus-style recreation facility could be located.
On Monday, city council reviewed three land options to house future community amenities, all of them in the city’s north side. Two of the options are private parcels of land owned by Landrex Ventures and Rohit Land Development, while one is city owned.
While reviewing the land options, council also looked at estimates for cost of servicing those parcels, ranging from $7 million to $14.3 million in net cost.
Administration indicated all of the parcels of land require area structure plan amendments and would not be shovel-ready until 2021 at the earliest.
Last March, council directed administration to seek out a 35-acre parcel of land to house community amenities, which Mayor Cathy Heron said could include items such as a pool, ice sheets, soccer fields, outdoor fields, high school, fire hall and even affordable housing.
Heron indicated council had the choice to deliberate on the options in private, due to legal implications of the matter, but chose to do it in public to ensure maximum possible feedback.
Land options
The three land options now before council include parcels of land in Erin Ridge North (Landrex Ventures land), Badger Lands (city-owned) and what administration called Range Road 260 land (Rohit-owned). The latter is north of the Lakeview Business District.
Administration said Landrex Ventures’ parcel in Erin Ridge North is estimated to be most costly to service. The total price tag would come to $51.1 million, with $36.8 million estimated to be recoverable through off-site levies, resulting in a $14.3-million net cost to the city.
Debenture borrowing for servicing the land in Erin Ridge North could result in 1.25-per-cent tax increases in 2024 and 2025.
All debentures are costed with a 20-year payback period.
Servicing Rohit’s 59-acre parcel – located west of Ray Gibbon Drive and south of Villeneuve Road – is estimated to incur a $24.5-million total cost, $16.5 million of which could be recovered, resulting in a net cost to the city of about $8 million. The Range Road 260 land could bring a 0.6-per-cent tax increase in 2024 and 2025.
Finally, servicing the city-owned 71-acre parcel in Badger Lands is estimated to cost $23.5 million total, with $16.4 million recoverable, resulting in a net cost of $7.1 million. Tax impact on residents for servicing Badger Lands would be a 0.4-per-cent increase in 2024 and 2025, and a 0.2-per-cent increase in 2027 and 28.
St. Albert planning and development director Adryan Slaght said Badger Lands was costed under an assumption of installing alternative servicing. The two other options were costed for traditional servicing.
Director of utilities and environment Kate Polkovsky said alternative servicing for Badger Lands includes onsite sanitary, using mobile units that can be moved around and even sold at a later date once traditional servicing comes to the area.
“If we do decide in the 20-year window, we prefer to go down that more traditional side, it allows us to limbo it as a way to manage wastewater flows in the interim, then when traditional servicing does reach there ... we could connect to it in the future if that was the choice,” she said. Polkovsky added it would cost about a half-million more to install traditional servicing.
Polkovsky said alternative servicing is a “proven technology,” but is different from what St. Albert has done in the past.
Chief administrative officer Kevin Scoble said if the city wanted to switch to traditional servicing in the future, there would be a “little bit of a capital loss,” due to depreciation in value of the equipment. He added there is a revenue generating stream with alternative servicing, because it generates treated effluent which the city could sell.
Coun. Sheena Hughes asked whether choosing the Erin Ridge North site would have any impact on expediating development of Neil Ross Road, thereby providing a potential remedy to safety concerns residents across the road have with the 50 Edinburgh Court North development.
Scoble said choosing that site would have no impact on issues with that development.
Administration said each of the land options would spur “some sort of development,” but Range Road 260 would have the greatest opportunity to spur development west of Ray Gibbon Drive. It would also reduce nonresidential tax revenue.
Coun. Natalie Joly asked why servicing the Erin Ridge North site costs so much more than the other options, and administration said existing geotechnical reports show the area has relatively high ground water, due to more dramatic sloping than the west side of the site.
Some members of council were also concerned that a portion of Rohit’s Range Road 260 land includes an old landfill, and asked administration whether there are any risks in taking over a landfill.
Later in the meeting, Rohit vice president of land development and commercial Russell Dauk said there are no “significant issues” with the landfill, and it can be closed and used for other purposes. Currently there is a 50-metre setback, and Dauk said testing has been conducted on the site, and within 6-12 months the elimination of that setback should be finalized, pending city and province responses.
Landrex Ventures makes its case
Landrex Ventures president Ryan Andrews told council in a presentation his company’s proposal comes with a guarantee of being the “most cost-effective option.”
Previously, Landrex had offered to donate a parcel of annexation land in Sturgeon County for community amenities, but Andrews said they were asked to move the site into St. Albert to the current land parcel on the table. Andrews said this parcel of land is the company’s “most immediately developable piece” of land.
“We did that, and we came back with an offer for sale for that land, which was inclusive of our dedication,” Andrews said. “We are confident that that will be least expensive option, the most cost-effective option, without considering regional support.”
When asked by Heron to clarify whether there is a price associated with the land, Andrews said “yes.”
RELATED: Community groups speak on land options for campus-style rec
In an interview, Andrews said he is looking at the total cost, and theirs will be the “more cost-effective,” and they will donate the land to match any other deal the city gets that is better than Landrex’s. He added the total cost of the community amenities project will include items such as land costs, servicing and regional contributions, and looking at only once piece of that can make one parcel look more expensive than the others.
Andrews also disputed the city’s estimate for servicing the Erin Ridge North parcel of land, saying he would like to look at those figures and come up with his own. If servicing the parcel does end up costing more than other options, Andrew repeated Landrex would make sure theirs is the most cost-effective option.
The technical side of this “is the easy side,” Andrews said in an interview, and the part that is much more difficult is getting stakeholders on board, understanding their priorities and finding ways to collaborate.
“I think the only site that offers a complete solution, with provincial funding, with regional partners, with the school site on it, and beyond that of course is building a rec facility. But those main things only exist on our site.”
Rohit presents two options
In Rohit’s presentation, Dauk provided two options for their parcel of land: the city purchase the 59-acre parcel, fully serviced and graded, at $22.5 million, or receive it free, still graded but unserviced. Dauk said their figures were drawn up by a consultant, Select Engineering Consultants.
Council noted Rohit’s estimate was largely in line with the city’s for servicing the land – $24.5 million – and Dauk said the slight discrepancy is due to the sewer line’s route.
Rohit acquired 246 acres on St. Albert's west side last year, and Dauk said the land “makes sense” for a recreation facility and he wanted to put it up for consideration.
“If you look out 20 years from now, 50 years from now, 100 years from now, I believe this is a strong long-term location,” Dauk said. “You can use the facility as a catalyst for development, whether it be for residential or future business.”
After hearing both presentations, council made closing statements. They noted the importance of regional collaborations and stated intentions to send letters of invitation to neighbouring municipalities to meet and talk about community amenities.
Council also asked administration to draw up an “apples to apples” comparison of all three land options, including pros and cons for each.
Coun. Ken MacKay noted council is only reaching the starting line of a “very long race” in looking at land options.
Coun. Wes Brodhead said this will be the biggest decision in the past 10 years he will be part of and urged caution in getting it done right, by looking at all factors related to making a decision.
Heron encouraged members of the public to participate in the decision-making process, saying council needs residents’ input.
“It’s not going to be built this (council) term ... but we will make decisions this term,” Heron said. “I think my goal for the seven of us is to put seven shovels in a sod-turning ceremony, I don’t care if it’s the day before the election, but we need to get this done.”
Hughes said council also needs to recognize once shovels are in the ground, residents’ taxes will “increase substantially,” especially taking into account borrowing for the Ray Gibbon Drive expansion and other increases coming down the line.
“Depending on what comes into this, we also have to recognize the fact that, I don’t know what the appetite is for people to have a 10-per-cent tax increase two or three years in a row to accomplish this because everything is being done at once,” she said. “So that also has to come into play, how do we balance the budget so people can afford to live here.”
Council is set to make a decision on location for community amenities before the end of 2019.
