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Condo development sparks safety concerns

Bottle-necking, parking among issues resident will speak with council about
traffic calmimg
Pedestrian curb extensions, raised asphalt crossing, enhanced road markings, rectangular rapid flashing beacons and warning flashers near Everitt Drive North at Elise Place help calm traffic in Erin Ridge. DAN RIEDLHUBER/St. Albert Gazette

What happens when you tack on a new bare land condominium development to a school neighbourhood full of young families who are already struggling against bottlenecking and high traffic volumes?

Some residents of Erin Ridge North are nervous to find out.

“It’s only going to get worse, which again we knew about but still have concerns,” said Kari McKnight. “Our kids are only five steps from (Everitt Drive).”

The development at 50 Edinburgh Court North would be a 5.7-acre, 59-unit bare land condominium – in which each resident owns their parcel of land and a narrow driveway but still shares common property.

According to current designs, the only access points would be by opening up the ends of two cul-de-sacs, Elise Place and Edinburgh Court North, which empty onto Everitt Drive and Lois E. Hole Elementary School.

Courtesy notices were sent to area residents June 25, informing them of the development and inviting feedback for a July 25 deadline, when the subdivision approval authority is set to make its decision.

That pending decision is only relating to subdividing the development into individual units; the condo itself was approved in 2009 with passage of the Erin Ridge North Area Structure Plan (ASP).

Noting residents’ concern about the development, city administration will be allowing members of the public to have a public dialogue with city council Aug. 12 during their Governance, Priorities and Finance Committee meeting.

Coun. Ken MacKay said residents certainly have “valid concerns” and it is “not at all” too late to air those concerns.

“I understand their concerns, these are all young families, new families, and you don’t want to have the situation where you have cars racing up the street where you didn’t have before,” he said.

Traffic volume among issues

McKnight – who lives in Elise Place – is one resident organizing fellow neighbours to speak to council members and administration in charge of the development.

She has school-aged children going into Grade 1 and 3, and McKnight said she is worried the increase in volume would make it even harder than it currently is to cross Everitt Drive for school.

Traffic calming measures have already been implemented on Everitt Drive as a result of speed and traffic volume, and McKnight said residents are worried it will only get worse.

It would be prudent for the city to learn from some of the issues high traffic volumes in school areas have led to in the past, McKnight said, noting the Safe Journeys to School initiative, which was spurred by the 2013 tragic death of six-year-old Thomas Wedman.

“Anytime you’re adding in an access point that is residential, you’ve got drivers, you’ve got kids and now you’re adding to it because you’ve got a school and a busy road.”

She added the area becomes extremely bottlenecked while parents are picking up and dropping off children at the school.

Another area resident and father of two young girls, Shaun Cowan, echoed McKnight’s sentiments.

“It is pretty concerning to me,” Cowan said. “I work as a surgical resident looking after trauma patients and seeing what happens (when) cars and people mix is concerning when you think about the kids in front of the school and the impact that can have.”

One potential solution would be changing the access point, and residents have identified Neil Ross Road, which runs north of the development, as a good alternative. However, Neil Ross Road is identified as an arterial road in Erin Ridge North’s Area Structure Plan.

The courtesy notice residents received said no access will be allowed from Neil Ross Road.

St. Albert planning and development director Adryan Slaght said when transportation modelling was completed when the ASP was last amended, a school site was theoretically included and analyzed.

However, transportation is reviewing its assessment of traffic capacity in the area to see if any mitigation is necessary, he added.

“It is an approved subdivision already and they have the appropriate zoning so the development already has developer rights there,” Slaght said.

When asked whether Neil Ross Road could be considered as an access point, Slaght said the developer has already made subdivision plans that do not rely on Neil Ross as an access point.

Additionally, he said that poses the debate whether you want to begin allowing access onto a future arterial road.

McKnight said she is not trying to kibosh the development; in fact she knew it was a future possibility when her family moved into the area in 2015. Her primary goal would be advocating for the main access point to be north, from Neil Ross Road, as opposed to the cul-de-sacs.

Parking issues

Increased traffic is not residents’ only concern.

Bob Russell, a former city councillor who has experience in planning and zoning, said looking at the design plans sent to residents show each unit will have a single car garage. Visitor parking will be limited to two stalls for the entire 59-unit development.

“They are very narrow strips of land, so by the time you put driveways in, there is no space on the road. I wonder where people will park then?” he said.

“People feel they’re being really screwed on this one. Do they have some arguments? I think they do.”

Greater housing diversity

Allowing developments such as the proposed bare land condominium coincides with the city’s effort to attract a “missing middle” of its population, in allowing for a greater diversity of housing options.

MacKay said the positive of the bare land condo proposal is it would support young families looking for the same amenities that attracted current residents, who maybe cannot afford a single detached home.

Currently 73 per cent of homes in St. Albert are single-detached.

Those who are wanting to rent also have a hard time; 19 per cent of the St. Albert population spends more than 50 per cent of their incomes on rent and utilities.

“It introduces you into the housing market, and maybe it’s your first house whereas in in the past you might move into an older residential area and renew, but now maybe you can only afford to move into something like that,” MacKay said.

“What we really, really want is the ability to find that diversity of housing.”

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