Residents will get a chance to give input on the recently released draft Erin Ridge traffic study report.
A public consultation meeting has been scheduled for Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. at the King of Kings Lutheran Church. The city is also accepting input via email to [email protected] until Dec. 15.
“We’re like a conduit here,” said city manager Patrick Draper. Instead of staff doing an in-depth review before release, they have put the consultant’s report online for public consumption. Draper said staff won’t be commenting on the contents of the report at this time.
“We’ve done a quick review,” Draper said on Tuesday. They released the report on Monday.
At the Dec. 9 public consultation meeting, the consultants will present highlights of the report and will take questions from attendees. Draper said they want to make sure everyone – including residents – are comfortable with and understand the baseline data in the report before moving forward.
“Because (the report’s) so technical in nature, we don’t want to jump too far too fast,” Draper said. “We need to get that common level of data.”
The report was completed by Bunt and Associates Engineering and commissioned by the City of St. Albert, Alberta Health Services and Alberta Infrastructure.
The study looked at traffic and parking issues around the proposed site for the francophone high school that’s set to open in 2016 on the Eldorado Park site.
The site announcement raised the furore of several Erin Ridge residents this summer who expressed concerns about traffic already being a problem in the area and the potential impact of the school on the busy streets.
The draft report says the study’s scope was to provide stakeholders with “an appreciation for current neighbourhood area traffic and parking operations, the extent of school traffic, expected changes in traffic volume (type and composition) on area roadways as well as parking, yellow school bus and drop off demands.”
The study looked at projected 2016 traffic volumes and flows, parking demands and evaluated other plans, as well as making some suggestions.
In the end, the assessment concluded the new school “will not have a significant negative impact on the existing road network or intersection operations.” However, several mitigation measures were suggested for long-term parking on Erin Ridge Drive and the nearby residential streets.
Despite the current zoning of Eldorado Park for the school to be on the east side, the report suggests a west side location could be preferable, though noted rezoning would have to occur.
“This draft report will inform future council decisions, so we need to ensure that the information presented resonates with residents. Does the draft report include all relevant information? Is the data presented clearly? Are we missing key information? The input we receive from residents will be provided to the consultants to facilitate the final report,” Draper said in a city news release.
The news release from the city said the input received from the public consultation process will be used to inform the final draft, which is anticipated to be given to council and the community in early 2014.
After the final draft is released, a second public consultation process will occur.
The report is available online at www.stalbert.ca/new-schools.
