Poor communication by the city has left St. Albert without a much-needed air quality monitoring station.
St. Albert’s first air quality monitoring station won’t proceed in Larose Park because the subdivision and development appeal board agreed with residents who opposed the structure. Many of the reasons were the usual NIMBY excuses: reduced property values, unsightly views, loss of green space. But residents also correctly pointed out that the city’s land use bylaws don’t provide for such a facility in a park. In a micro sense, the board made the right decision. In the grand scheme, we’re left with the wrong result.
St. Albert is Alberta’s only 50,000-plus city without an air quality monitoring station. This means officials can’t track the state of the local air to assess the impacts of phenomena like wildfires, smog outbreaks or new industrial developments. Instead, they must rely on data from Edmonton, where the closest station is near the Telus World of Science. And all this when Alberta Environment has a $250,000 unit ready to install in St. Albert. Studies conducted earlier this year showed that Larose Park is the optimum site because it allows for the most accurate readings. So why are we still stationless?
For starters, rather than adjusting its land use rules, the city tried to finesse the development through its existing rules. This was a mistake, but one that need not have been fatal if it hadn’t been accompanied by mistake number two: lack of communication. Residents within the immediate vicinity of the development first learned of it when they received letters from the city stating that the station had been approved and informing them that they could appeal within 14 days. This is the type of process that leaves residents feeling like they’re an afterthought rather than valued contributors.
In March the city learned a lesson about the importance of proactive consultation when a public outcry quashed a proposed mountain bike skills park in Liberton. City manager Patrick Draper stated in a letter to the Gazette that administration hadn’t done a good job of consulting, and he pledged to do better. The city has shown that it can do better, as with a recent open house held to explain drainage work in Grandin Ravine. Had the city applied the same diligence in this instance, by explaining the point of the station, its size and appearance – before it had been approved – area residents may have embraced it. Concerns could have been flushed out and addressed.
Instead, it’s back to square one. This time, let’s hope the city takes another run at it and that the facts prevail. This a small building (10 feet by 20 feet by 10 feet tall, with a tower up to about 30 feet high). It’s surrounded by a large park area. There is really only one house (at 128 Larose) that has an unfettered view of the area, from more than 100 feet away and across the street, mind you.
This station would be a valuable asset to the city and Larose Park is the right place for it. The city needs to do whatever it takes to soften the industrial look of the facility and get it done.
