Something is going on across the street from Doris Harvey and she doesn't like it one bit.
Harvey and her neighbours in Braeside all received letters from the city months ago stating that the landowner wanted to subdivide the empty lot across the street. As suggested was their right, they all wrote back opposing the idea.
Now it appears the lot has been split in two, with some sort of development on the horizon. Yet Harvey has no idea what's being planned or any sense that her voice has been heard.
"There's nothing they say that makes you feel like you've got a chance," said the 86-year-old.
Candidates' thoughts
Harvey's experience is playing out quietly throughout St. Albert's established neighbourhoods. The issue is pervasive enough that several candidates in the municipal election are calling for some sort of change in the way the city consults its citizens on developments.
Council hopeful Cam MacKay has made better planning a central part of his platform. He has proposed a neighbourhood rights bylaw calling for a return of the municipal planning commission (MPC) and area structure plans for established neighbourhoods to guide future redevelopment.
"Right now I look at the process and it's very one-sided," MacKay said. "You've always got the city that wants more tax revenue. You've always got the developer that wants money and the resident doesn't have much of a say at all."
St. Albert used to have an MPC that was in charge of approving subdivision and development applications. The panel included six members split equally between council and administration, plus one citizen at large.
Council transferred the MPC's power to administration 2005 in an effort to streamline development approvals and officially eliminated the MPC in 2008.
MacKay's vision for the commission is a body comprising the mayor, two councillors and four members of the public.
James Burrows is also pushing for a return of the MPC. He thinks Calgary's commission could be a model for St. Albert to follow. That body has three city managers, two councillors and six citizens.
Calgary's commission makes recommendations to council on planning policies that concern area structure plans, rezoning of properties and acts as the subdivision approving authority for the city.
For Burrows, the need for change has been highlighted by the lengthy and tumultuous processes experienced around smart growth and Arlington Drive.
"The situation that we're in right now is simply not working," Burrows said. "The citizens of St. Albert don't feel engaged."
The key to any new system is that it has citizens on it, he said.
Council candidate Wes Brodhead isn't keen on bringing back the MPC because residents who didn't like a decision would have little recourse to hold the MPC accountable.
"Having council be the ultimate arbiter of these sorts of things is more democratic than having an arms-length committee," Brodhead said.
His preferred approach would be for St. Albert to gather a group of citizens and develop a new public consultation process.
"The citizens of St. Albert need to be a part of developing this made-in-St.-Albert solution," he said.
Burrows noted that, under his vision, the MPC would act as an advisor to council, which would retain the final say.
Council hopeful Stanley Haroun thinks the development at 70 Arlington Dr. would have had a different conclusion if there was an MPC in place. An advantage of such a body is that it would have funding and the ability to hire outside experts if required.
"When you have a public hearing in the council chamber, you don't have all those supports," he said.
One of the reasons the MPC was disbanded is because it was seen as an extra and unnecessary step that slowed the approval process.
Shelley Biermanski, who's challenging for the mayor's chair, supports bringing back the MPC and better guidelines for developing in established neighbourhoods. She doesn't think it should create too much red tape.
"I don't think that a planning group could possibly take longer than some of these [approvals] have taken, especially if they have guidelines that they're following," she said.
Mayor Nolan Crouse isn't completely sold on bringing back the MPC but admits the current process is broken.
"There is no good way of engaging residents in the issues that affect them the most," he said.
He's proposing some sort of blend between what he calls "Public Engagement 101" and the MPC.
The MPC had a role in the past but it didn't have widespread citizen representation, said Len Bracko.
He'd like every neighbourhood to form a committee of residents to deal with local concerns. On wider issues, each committee chair could form a city-wide committee of citizens to discuss issues of concern.
"We need to go bigger than [the MPC] and we need to include everybody," Bracko said.
Incumbents Roger Lemieux and Gareth Jones both spoke in favour of bringing back the MPC, as did challenger Malcolm Parker.
