County residents got to see three visions of the future for the Sturgeon river valley last week — small, medium and extra-large.
About 80 people came to the Hunters Green Golf Club for an open house on the Sturgeon Valley area structure plan. The plan, when complete, will set out the shape and extent of development in the Sturgeon river valley for the next 30 years.
This plan has been due for a revamp for about five years, said Collin Steffes, Sturgeon County's manager of planning and development, and the Capital Region Board (CRB) has criticized the county for not revising it prior to submitting plans for new subdivisions.
The Sturgeon Valley is roughly the size of a small city, Steffes said, and would be very tough to plan and develop all at once. "We need to understand what the extent of the policy area is first."
Instead of a detailed document with street designs and density targets, residents at the open house got to look at three big maps that outlined potential planning areas for the area structure plan.
Small, medium, huge
Option one was the status-quo scenario where the county would essentially keep the valley the way it was now, Steffes said. Developments already in the pipe would go ahead, but the county wouldn't be adding more than about 300 lots to the region — enough homes to last about 10 years at current growth rates.
"Our primary concern with this one is the fiscal viability of it," Steffes said. The valley needs major upgrades to its roads and reservoirs to support growth and fire services, and will struggle to pay for them without more development or taxes. "We have little options to fund improvements in this area without taxes."
Option two would see the valley grow south to the borders of the Edmonton Garrison and Edmonton. River Lot 56 would still be preserved under this plan, Steffes said, despite what the map suggests.
This option better fits the CRB's regional growth plan, Steffes noted, as it positions growth adjacent to existing development. It also offers a 30-year housing supply and the potential to improve local recreation areas.
"The most feasible expansion of services exists in this area," he added, as it includes a regional water line.
Option three would see the valley expand to cover everything between Edmonton, Hwy. 2, Hwy. 37 and Hwy. 28. This would affect all farmland in the region except for the University of Alberta's experimental farm on Hwy. 2 and would require two new crossings to be built over the Sturgeon.
This option would give the county 75 years of housing in the valley, Steffes said, but would cost a bundle to service.
"It's in the triple digits of millions to service the whole area," he said. "I can't see a levy system that would support that."
Hunters Green Golf Club co-owner Glen Cowan said he favoured option two, as it focused development where it's needed (the southeast) and didn't waste resources on the north, which was decades away from development.
St. Albert resident Stan Skowronski, who owns land in the valley, said he'd prefer to see very little development in the south half of the valley, as it's mostly made of wetlands.
"Edmonton is growing further and further north," he said. "That development should be looked at in a way to preserve what's here."
Clustered or not?
The county also asked residents what kind of homes they wanted to see in the valley and if they wanted to see those homes clustered to preserve open space.
The Capital Region Board has zoned the valley for clustered country residential development. These developments are meant to group homes close together to preserve environmental features and lower infrastructure costs, and are supposed to aim for two units per gross hectare.
That's pretty low density, Steffes said, too low to make development viable, according to developers who have spoken with the county. "Most developers have been saying, 'I don't know how I'm going to make that work.'"
Clustered development makes for big, expensive lots that most people can't afford, Cowan said, and shuts out the military folks on the garrison who will be looking for homes.
"It doesn't make a sense from an economic perspective."
Smaller lots, townhouses and seniors housing would be a better fit for the region, he said.
The county will work on a detailed plan over the summer and hold a second open house later this year, Steffes said. He hoped to have the plan approved and in place by the end of the year.
Visit www.sturgeoncounty.ab.ca/ for details on the plan.
