A former St. Albert city councillor expressed concerns after attempting to attend a recent council committee meeting that ended up being held in private.
St. Albert city council held a committee of the whole meeting May 2 to discuss an opportunity for the city’s Lakeview Business District. Located on the west side of St. Albert, Lakeview will be the city’s third major business park. The City recently extended servicing under Ray Gibbon Drive, but remaining sanitary, storm, water, and transportation projects to service the land itself will cost $80 million, according to the City’s most recent estimates.
According to an administrative backgrounder accompanying the May 2 meeting, reasons for going in camera include advice from officials, and information which could adversely affect the City economically, for example interfering with the negotiation process. These items are protected under Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act.
In advertising the meeting, the City outlined that “some or all of the meeting” might occur in camera.
James Burrows, who served on St. Albert city council for three consecutive terms beginning in 2003, said that as a current member of the public, he wanted to attend the meeting to find out what is on the table for the land.
“We’re talking about something at the 10,000-foot level,” Burrows said, noting that he understands city council meetings have to be in camera for a number of reasons, but feels keeping this meeting fully in camera is inappropriate.
“Every idea should be heard and thought out if we’re just talking about conceptual things here,” Burrows said.
When asked to respond to Burrows’s concerns, Mayor Cathy Heron said as a former councillor, Burrows knows why council goes in camera.
“I’m not going to comment any further than that,” Heron said.
Heron said she can’t comment on what council and administration discussed at the private committee of the whole meeting. She noted that the City is still having public conversations about the next steps in servicing the land.
The City held a previous committee of the whole meeting on April 6 to give an overview of the history of the employment lands.
During the meeting, Dawny George — the City’s director of engineering — told council that the price of remaining servicing, including additional sanitary, as well as water, storm, and transportation with the extension of Range Road 260 towards the Lakeview area, adds up to $80 million worth of projects.
The City’s contribution for the servicing based on the land it owns within the area would be $20 million, George said.
With these expenses in mind, Heron said Thursday that council is likely to invest, as Lakeview is a priority. Speaking during the City’s annual economic development business breakfast on May 10, Heron said the business district will present “an incredible opportunity for St. Albert and the whole Edmonton metro region.”
“High demand combined with a scarcity of developable industrial land in this region positions us for tremendous growth in the years to come,” Heron said during the breakfast.
