There’s a split in opinion on the firing of long-time St. Albert director of business and tourism development, Larry Horncastle. On one side, we have city administration, which obviously believes Horncastle was not the guy to get the job done. On the other side, we have the business community — the very constituents Horncastle served — saying Horncastle was the only guy in city administration who was pro-business and understood the need for economic growth in St. Albert.
Horncastle was an outspoken proponent of 80-20 — moving St. Albert’s tax base to a mix of 80 per cent residential and 20 per cent commercial/industrial. He has stated time and again that St. Albert, as it sits today, is unsustainable because of its heavy reliance on the residential tax base to pay for city operations. Moving to an 80-20 ratio would ease the burden on residential ratepayers, particularly with the influx of light industrial businesses.
There’s no arguing with Horncastle’s logic, unless you enjoy paying the second-highest property taxes in the province (per $100,000 of assessment). If St. Albert continues on its current path, seniors on fixed incomes and young families just starting out will have little choice but to move to Edmonton or another municipality where property taxes are more affordable.
This logic was espoused in the Future Industrial Land Requirements Study, which was released at the end of June. The study concluded that St. Albert will require a minimum of 716 gross acres of additional designated vacant industrial lands to accommodate future employment growth to the year 2036. The study also concluded there needs to be an attitude shift at city hall if St. Albert is going to move to sustainability: “Before looking for corrective mechanisms, there must first be an attitude change that industrial development is important to the community’s sustainability. Even more so, it must be believed that the community’s economic, social and environmental sustainability is impossible without industrial development. Arguments in favour can be found throughout this report.”
The strong rhetoric found in this report mirrored Horncastle’s message and it became the economic development bible for the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce. Some members of council, however, questioned the validity of the report. Some said the amount of land cited was far too great, while others said light industrial development would ruin the community fabric of St. Albert. Mayor Nolan Crouse has recently questioned the concept of 80-20, wondering out loud if it’s really attainable. Council’s reaction to the report should be a complete shock, given every one of them campaigned on economic development with the goal of reducing the residential tax burden. If economic development wasn’t going in the right direction, you’d think council would have been aware of it, but apparently not one elected official knew of Horncastle’s fate. So, the obvious question arises: who is setting the “new direction” — council or administration?
City manager Bill Holtby said administration is looking for someone with broader contacts at the regional and national level. That sounds fantastic, but there’s just one problem with that — what is this superstar going to sell? If administration and council had listened to Horncastle over the last several years, there would be land available to sell. But no one listened, and we’re going down the same tired path with council bucking the latest land study. Maybe the “new direction” is that this new person will come in and tell us what we need to sell, thereby wasting at least two more years while industrial development happens all around St. Albert’s borders. More studies, more dithering when we need action — an all too familiar pattern.
Was there an ideology gap between Horncastle and city council and administration? We may never know the entire story, but one thing’s for certain: the removal of a high profile and respected city employee is a bold move. Taxpayers will be watching the coming months and years to see if the move was the right one.
