Mayor launches defence of DARP

Mayor Nolan Crouse wants critics of the downtown area redevelopment plan (DARP) to know he has no intention of backtracking or revisiting the plan despite its hefty capital costs.

Last week Crouse circulated an email to members of council, city administration, the chamber of commerce and the local media highlighting all that DARP has accomplished to date. He said he felt compelled to write the email because of recent criticism of DARP-related business that has come before council in the last two or three months.

"We will see letters to the editor or comments about DARP and that it's not going anywhere. Well that ship has left," Crouse said. "We are already moving towards the vision established and those [improvements] are indications of it."

The email contains a bulleted list of what has taken place since council signed off on DARP in 2010. Most focus on beautification and art, such as refurbishing and installing public art pieces, adding trees and bike racks, upgrading Lions Park and Founders' Walk as well as capital improvements such as renovations at St. Albert Community Hall and the St. Albert Curling Club.

"You have to swallow it a bit at a time," the mayor said. "Every so often someone wants to revisit it or says it shouldn't be in the budget. It's there. We've got developers interested in developing some land. We're on that."

DARP contemplates numerous projects that, scaled over seven or eight years, would cost, in total $135.8 million. Four priorities, pegged at $42.4 million, include narrowing Perron Street, curving St. Anne Street south of the courthouse to meet up with Taché Street, replacing the downtown parking lot with a civic square and building a parkade. All of those projects still remain on the city's unfunded capital projects list.

Mike Howes, chair of the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce's Perron District committee, said the group wants to see prompt action on Perron Street, St. Anne Street and a downtown parkade.

"Those three are the ones we feel should get going first," Howes said. "At the end of the day you can only start with a couple of things so that if future business wants to develop, they can develop.

"In terms of what we've seen with beautification, we're on board with that."

Downtown vision

DARP has already propelled one business owner to build. Michael Herald built the Perron Courtyard last year on the empty lot beside the post office on Perron Street. Right now, the building is all leased except for one spot.

Herald said it was the vision for the downtown that motivated him to build where he did, when he did.

"There was some template laid out, not necessarily with time dedicated to it, but with issues like parking, they were on the radar screen to be in the future.

"Without the plan it's harder to make a business decision when you build a commercial building. It's not to make money today; it has pay itself off over the years."

But what Herald and Crouse call vision, the St. Albert Taxpayers Association (SATA) calls "pie in the sky" dreaming too costly to even contemplate. As recently as its annual general meeting this month, the SATA affirmed its opposition to DARP.

"We don't need and can't afford this huge pipe dream that is DARP," director Lynda Flannery said.

Whether it's the total $135.8-million cost or the $42.4-million price tag for the four priorities, Flannery says there is no scenario in which local homeowners don't end up footing the bill.

"We would like to see the recognition that the whole DARP exercise told us — that this type of dream for a city of our size, even in the next 20 to 30 years, it's just not feasible."

Herald, however, believes more funding options will become available over time.

"There's a million ways to fund it. It's a plan, that's all it is. Let's try to make these steps in the next direction."