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At Council: May 16

Monday's St. Albert city council meeting had a jam-packed agenda.

During the Monday, May 16 city council meeting, council passed first reading of a proposed site-specific amendment to the land-use bylaw.

The owner of 38 Sturgeon Rd., which is currently designated as a low-density residential site, has applied for the land to be rezoned to operate a health clinic in the house.

Dr. Bronwen Samuel, a licensed chiropractor, acupuncturist, and massage therapist, currently operates her clinic, Revive Whole Body Health, at 150 Bellerose Dr. 

According to the transcript of a virtual public open house meeting held on Nov. 21, 2021, Samuel said to some nearby residents of the proposed rezoning site that she wants to move her clinic from its current commercial location to the Sturgeon Road location so the clinic could have a "community-centered neighbourhood setting."

Council was given a three-page backgrounder that lists 21 different ways the municipal development plan and its policies support the proposed rezoning of 38 Sturgeon Rd. 

A public hearing on the potential rezoning of 38 Sturgeon Rd. has been scheduled for June 20.

Council approves the new tax-rate bylaw

As previously reported by The Gazette in December, the City's budget for 2022 included a tax-rate increase of 2.8 per cent. During the city council meeting on Monday, council officially authorized the tax increase with the passing of the 2022 property tax rate bylaw.

Non-residential property will have an increased tax rate of 2.2 per cent in 2022.

As part of City assessor Stephen Bannerman's presentation to council at the May 16 meeting, Bannerman said the senior homeowners tax grant program will continue in 2022. Every eligible household will receive a $200 tax grant that is automatically applied to the homeowner's account. According to Bannerman's presentation, there were 638 eligible properties in 2021.

In his presentation to council, Bannerman explained that in 2021, residential properties in St. Albert saw their market value increase by 3.4 per cent, while non-residential properties saw a decrease in market value of 1.6 per cent.

During council's discussion of the bylaw, Coun. Sheena Hughes said, "this is the last time we will see a tax increase below [three per cent] for a long time."

2022 tax notices will be mailed on May 31.

Single-use item reduction strategy update

On Monday, council re-committed $50,000 from the stabilization reserve to the City's ongoing development of a single-use item reduction strategy.

This funding was initially earmarked for the project in 2019, but delays attributed to the pandemic caused the project to be postponed, and the funding stayed in the reserve.

Nicole Lynch, a communications advisor for the City, said in an email that "after the extension to complete the work plan was approved in March 2022, it was realized that the funds were not available for use and therefore the $50,000 would need to be recommitted ... [to be] used towards the Single-Use Item Reduction Strategy."

The City recently closed the single-use item reduction public survey, which was open from April 8 to May 8. The City states on its Cultivate the Conversation platform that 56 residents completed the survey, and "the majority of participants agreed that some or all of the items (check-out bags, straws, takeout containers, to-go drink cups, and utensils) should be targeted in the reduction strategy."

According to the City's Cultivate the Conversation platform, a summary report of the survey's findings will be made available on May 31. 

Servus Place solar data display

During the May 16 council meeting, Coun. Mike Killick presented a motion asking for City administration to "provide recommendations for council to consider the costs, timelines, and recommended funding source that would allow for real-time web page display of the solar data from Servus Place."

"I'm sure it would be great information to share with the public," Killick said during the council meeting. "It's a flagship system that we have running there and displaying it would, I think, help also gain some confidence in our data that we are going to be bringing forward for the commercial solar farm."

The solar array on Servus Place was installed in 2021. 

"It seems like there are many communities around the province that all do the same thing for all of their public sites that are funded with public money so we should have a fairly straightforward way of providing that data to our residents," Killick said during the council meeting.

Killick's motion was passed unanimously with no debate.


Jack Farrell

About the Author: Jack Farrell

Jack Farrell joined the St. Albert Gazette in May, 2022.
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