A city councillor is excited that members of Sturgeon County have shown early support to quash the Sturgeon-St. Albert intermunicipal development plan (IDP).
The IDP is set up to allow the two municipalities to have input on development proposals on the fringes of both communities and sets out the staging of future annexations.
The idea of repealing the IDP was raised at last week's county council meeting, after several landowners voiced complaints about a proposal to remove large acreage developments and the 1,337-hectare annexation area from the IDP boundaries.
Several county councillors, including Jerry Kaup, showed initial support in scrapping the nine-year-old bylaw.
“If we are going to take all of one partner's land out of the IDP why shouldn't the other's come out as well?” Kaup said at the time, before council agreed to wait two weeks before formally debating scrapping the bylaw.
St. Albert Coun. James Burrows believes the IDP should have been repealed when the Capital Region Board was implemented and approved more than a year ago.
“I think it's exciting news that Sturgeon County councillors are considering the idea that the IDP should be squashed or let go,” said Burrows. “Let's face it, St. Albert's fall-back position is still to oppose anything big on our municipal fringe. I am anxious to see what the outcome will be in two weeks by their elected officials.”
The proposed changes to the IDP would exempt all 1,337 hectares of land St. Albert annexed from the county in 2007, as well as two acreage developments near the city — Quail Ridge and Northern Lights.
St. Albert has been trying to designate a study area in this portion of annexed lands on the west side of Ray Gibbon Drive in order to secure a 20-year supply of industrial land, but needs approval by both councils first.
Earlier this month, a joint St. Albert-Sturgeon council committee recommended exempting the annexation area and acreage areas. That recommendation, however, had to be approved by both councils as part of a joint public hearing process.
County councillors have voiced concern with picking and choosing whose land should be exempt from the IDP.
But with another IDP meeting planned in the near future, Mayor Nolan Crouse said it's premature to judge whether or not the IDP is still a useful tool for planning matters or if indeed it should be scrapped.
The danger in repealing it, he said, is that it would open the door towards planning for more short-term development rather than long-term, which could create a giant headache for both municipalities 50 years down the road.
“Maybe it's out-lived its life, but on the other hand, we have some short-term decisions that have to be made relative to the study areas,” said Crouse. “We are ready to talk short-term as well as long-term. I don't know that we want to combine them together.”
