A land re-zoning that could be considered six years in the making will finally go to a public hearing on Monday night as a private developer looks to have a number of new permitted uses added to Campbell Business Park.
Paul Wong of PJSJ Holdings, which owns land in Campbell, wants the city to create a new land use district known as Business Park Direct Control (BP2). He is also seeking to have 31.72 hectares of land rezoned to BP2.
Under the new zoning, development officers would be able to deal with most proposed uses, but can go before council for approval if a company wants to build in the area and its use is not covered as a permitted or discretionary use. Wong hired local planning consultant David Klippenstein to explore new land uses given the stagnant sales of land in the area.
"The new district was put together so that [Wong] can change his marketing approach," said Curtis Cundy, St. Albert's director of planning and development.
Originally conceived in 2003 as a high tech industrial park, Campbell came with very strict architectural standards and permitted land uses. Cundy says there was nothing wrong with that vision and its content, but given Campbell contains the last of St. Albert's "shovel-ready" industrial land, the city found itself being approached for variances.
"After we did the high-end standards, they ended up constantly being changed with people requesting things," Cundy said. "There was nothing wrong. We needed to have general industrial land."
Early changes
It was mid-December of 2005 that the original seeds to approve alternate land uses within Campbell Business Park were first planted. FortisAlberta approached the city with a problem — the lease on its building was expiring later in 2006. It wanted to stay in St. Albert and the only land available was in Campbell. Yet the fact it required an open yard went against the architectural guidelines of Campbell's area structure plan, which led administration to recommend against approval. After a three-week postponement, councillors who seemed committed to defeating the move came back and endorsed it unanimously, outraging local commercial realtors and angering the chamber of commerce.
At the same time, it approved a land sale in Campbell to the St. Albert Gazette. The Gazette's proposal was endorsed by administration and met the guidelines for the park. The new building is scheduled to open in May.
Mayor Nolan Crouse, a councillor in 2005, said the Fortis case showed council was "tipping our hat" towards exploring other options.
Klippenstein agreed the rigidity of the park's standards were demonstrated at that time and now need to change.
"The marketplace has changed a bit and the vision for a technology park, whether that was an achievable vision, has been reflected."
Wong's proposal entertains permitted uses that include artist studio, general service, household repair service, mini-storage, specialty store, transmitting station, veterinary clinic, video outlet and warehouse store. There are approximately 18 discretionary uses.
The goal, says Klippenstein, is to increase the appeal of the land without turning it into a heavy industrial park.
"This is still intended to be more flexible, with more uses. There are definite limitations and restrictions. Any emitting businesses are prohibited. That just does not fit. This is a prestige business park."
Local business
While Klippenstein feels there is positive general support for the plan, he has also come "to expect the unexpected" as far as public hearings go.
While the plan has made the rounds at open houses, some parties are still expected to speak at the hearing. One of those is Murray Brown, president of Canterra Properties, which developed Kingswood. While Brown did not want to go into detail ahead of the hearing, he has some issues with some of the proposed land uses.
"But at the same time we understand some changes have to be made part way through in order to make them relevant," Brown said. "It's a bit of a conflict between what we'd like to see happen and what does happen."
Other business owners have no issue with the rezoning. Myron Borys of Synergy Properties won't submit anything to the public hearing, content with the proposed land uses.
"There have been a number of changes at the city related to how they're approaching economic development and expanding the industrial base and this would be a good example to begin showing they are interested in seeing more industrial development," Borys said.
