City residents can help plan the future of St. Albert’s White Spruce Forest this Tuesday as part of an open house.
City parks planners are holding an open house on plans for the Grey Nuns White Spruce Park Tuesday.
Unlike previous high-level concept plans for the park, these plans are detailed design documents that set out the specific location and nature of the park’s trails and amenities, said city parks planning specialist Margo Brenneis.
“What we want to do is get feedback on the proposed plan to ensure we are on the right track,” she said.
Brenneis said guests at the open house could check out and comment on proposed trail networks and the nature of said trails, which would be paved or not depending on their location. They would also get to see visuals of the proposed natural playground, which would likely have boulders and logs instead of the traditional slides and swings.
The white spruce park working group (which consists of retired foresters Peter Murphy and Daryl D’Amico) would be on hand to talk about ongoing reforestation efforts at the park.
“We planted 3,000 seedlings this summer and those are at pretty high risk of getting eaten by the bunnies,” D’Amico said.
Over the next few months, crews will put sleeves made from material similar to that used in election signs around some of these trees to see if they can protect them from mice and rabbits, D’Amico said. (The sleeves will come off in a few years once the trees mature.)
The city will launch an online survey on the plans Tuesday that will run until Oct. 22, Brenneis said. Staffers would tweak the park’s plans based on what they hear from the survey and the open house and should have a finished plan ready for next year.
The open house runs from 4 to 7 p.m. at the St. Albert Kinsmen Banquet Centre, 47 Riel Drive, Tuesday, Oct. 8.
Green building conference
A former St. Albert resident will be in Edmonton this week to talk about how net-zero buildings can help fight climate change.
University of Calgary sustainability consultant Adam Stoker will be at the University of Alberta this week to host several panels at the 2019 Alberta Sustainable Building Symposium – Canada’s longest-running green building conference. Some 240 people are expected to attend.
Stoker is part of five panels at the conference, most of which deal with the net-zero buildings.
Climate change has taken centre stage as the world’s biggest issue and every industry wants to know how they can help combat it, said Stoker, who grew up in St. Albert. That’s especially true for those who build buildings, which by most estimates account for a third of all energy-related carbon emissions in North America.
“Buildings have an environmental footprint, but they also represent an opportunity for us to do more good,” Stoker said. It turns out that when you design a building to use less energy, it often ends up being more durable, comfortable, and affordable.
Stoker will speak on the renovation of MacKimmie Tower at the U of C. Despite being over 50 years old, the U of C has managed to make the tower net-zero in terms of its annual carbon emissions by reusing much of the old concrete, adding 450 kW of solar panels to its roof and walls (enough to meet a third of its energy needs), and surrounding it with a “double-skin” facade composed of two layers of glass with a greenhouse in between them – a feature that allows for plenty of natural light, heating, cooling, and ventilation.
“We’ve slashed energy use by 80 per cent,” Stoker said, cut operating costs, and made the place far more comfortable for its occupants.
The conference runs from Oct. 7 to 9 at the University of Alberta’s Lister Conference Centre. Guests can register onsite. Visit bit.ly/2lPQBQc for details.
