Anybody who says St. Albert doesn’t have land available to do business is wrong, according to the city’s mayor.
Mayor Nolan Crouse gave his state of the city address to a packed audience of dignitaries from around the region at a chamber luncheon Wednesday. Looking back at 2009, Crouse said a tremendous amount of work has been accomplished on the economic development front.
Key infrastructure projects were completed, such as fire station No. 3 in North Ridge and the first stage of LeClair Way that connects Ray Gibbon Drive to Riel Park. Crouse also noted the approval of the Erin Ridge North area structure plan, which will pave the way for new development in the annexed lands.
St. Albert still has plenty of land to do business in South Riel and Campbell Business Park, added Crouse, with 66 vacant lots still up for grabs.
After recently unveiling a new city brand to be implemented in the coming years, the future of St. Albert looks promising, the mayor said.
“Anyone that says we don’t have land available to do business is wrong,” said Crouse. “We must continue to look at the areas where we can help developers.”
The mayor’s optimism about land availability isn’t being shared by everyone. Local realtor Bob Russell deals with commercial sales on a regular basis and says there some infilling to do in Riel and some land available in Campbell.
The problem with Campbell, he said, is the circular design, as opposed to a typical grid, can make it very difficult to fit businesses in there. To complicate matters even further, Russell said sometimes there’s certain servicing restrictions imposed on business owners looking to develop in the industrial park.
“The grid system works a lot better for commercial industrial sales. It’s very difficult sometimes to get the footprint of a building on a piece of land that isn’t squared or reasonably so,” said Russell. “I don’t agree with [the mayor] that there’s a lot of land. There is land for sale, but there is some restrictions that create problems for us trying to put deals together.”
Crouse also touched on several of the city priorities recently identified by council, such as community safety, environmental sustainability, affordable housing and infrastructure planning.
He received a round of applause for speaking about the city’s commitment to the Red Willow Trail system.
“We will not waver on the continuation of the trail system,” said Crouse, who noted there’s a lot of work to do with the Sturgeon River. “It’s a beautiful river, but we have a lot of work to do to make sure it stays alive in the years ahead.”
As far as infrastructure is concerned, Crouse said the city took a very aggressive approach towards infrastructure maintenance in 2009, with sidewalk and road repairs. That approach will continue in the year ahead.
Other notable projects this year will include some significant changes with road connections to Anthony Henday Drive. The city is also working with Edmonton on fast-tracking an LRT line that would come up to the doorstep of St. Albert.
