Some 18 months after Mayor Nolan Crouse initiated a task force to transform St. Albert’s sleepy downtown into a vibrant shopping and cultural hub, a clear picture of the future is starting to emerge. Bold new plans promise to take advantage of natural green spaces and bring in more shopping, festivals and residential homes. The concepts are fresh and appealing, yet any enthusiasm must be tempered with the stark reality that no fix will happen overnight or without a potential cost to taxpayers.
Three conceptual plans for the downtown were unveiled at an open house last week. All three plans, which still require council review, aim for a more walkable downtown by narrowing traffic lanes on St. Anne Street, which would be extended to run past the St. Albert Senior Citizens’ Club. The plan also emphasizes making natural elements like the Sturgeon River more of a focal point for businesses and pedestrians.
Plan A calls for a civic square for festivals in front of St. Albert Place that would extend into the current central parking lot. A new civic building is proposed on the northeast edge of the square and a parkade to the south. Millennium Park would be given a “garden edge” that faces the new St. Anne Street, which also would include townhouses and apartments and more parking.
Plan B puts more focus on Millennium Park, making it home to a civic square that would be flanked by two new civic buildings. St. Anne Street would feature more commercial space, apartments and a central parkade.
The third plan sandwiches the civic square between St. Albert Place and the courthouse, an area that would connect to Millennium Park and the Red Willow Trail. Apartments, storefront commercial and townhouses would be added along St. Anne Street, with a parkade in the central lot.
All three plans promise to improve the vibrancy of downtown by making it a true destination. Businesses would feed off new festivals, events and population growth. Yet with all the optimism, questions linger about whether the three concepts will be able to deliver where past plans have failed.
The current downtown area redevelopment plan (DARP) made similar promises to draw people, shopping and restaurants to the downtown. That plan did lead to improvements like new residential development and storefront commercial, but it also had unintended consequences. Professional offices now dominate the area instead of cafes and boutiques. Reversing the trend will require zoning changes, a fix that will still take years and possibly decades, assuming future councils hold firm to their convictions.
Fixing other problems like the lack of parking is easy to do on paper but harder in reality. Council will have to sort out who is going to build a new parkade, the city or a private developer, and whether that money will be recouped through property taxes, a local improvement levy, parking fees or some other source. An even greater hurdle will be winning public support to spend the $20-million-plus on a civic building, be it for administrative offices, a library, or a combination of the two.
The mayor and council should be commended for realizing downtown cannot continue to limp along without major changes. The plans depict the type of downtown St. Albert deserves. But translating those plans into something tangible will require patience on the part of residents and a strong stomach at city hall to ensure the vision remains on track.
