A new commercial development is close to proceeding at the north end of St. Albert Trail across from Walmart, said Jan Butler, senior vice-president of operations for Landrex, the land developer that's rolling out the Erin Ridge North neighbourhood.
The St. Albert-based developer got council approval last week to rezone three portions of the new area and expects to be back soon for a development agreement.
Having those formalities out of the way will open the door for the company to start negotiating seriously with an anchor business that is expressing interest, Butler said.
"We have someone we're talking with," she said, refusing to divulge details.
Butler is confident that a deal will proceed with an anchor business, prompting others to quickly follow and allow Landrex to break ground on servicing the commercial area this spring.
City council last week agreed to allow a portion of land that's technically part of St. Albert Trail to be sold to Landrex. The strip of land isn't needed for a road and would have made for an unreasonable buffer between the trail and development, Butler said.
A second council decision saw the land along the trail rezoned as commercial corridor rather than intermunicipal fringe, a designation retained from when the area was part of Sturgeon County. Council also rezoned two parcels along the north edge of the neighbourhood as public park and low-density residential.
The decisions allows Landrex to extend Everitt Drive to the commercial area, Butler said.
St. Albert annexed the land in 2007 and last year approved an area structure plan, which involved a lengthy tug of war between the developer and the city over servicing. These advances came after years of legal and political battles over the previously proposed Hunter Ridge development.
The approved plan calls for 424 low-density housing units, 529 units of medium/high-density and 120 units of medium-density housing.
The residential component will continue to unfold during the 2011 building season. As show homes and spec homes go up, Landrex expects to service 81 lots to add to the 166 lots it serviced last year, Butler said.
The commercial component represents about 23 per cent of the area, or about 22 hectares.
Progress encouraging
It's taken too long to get development happening in the annexed lands but it's encouraging to see progress, said Charlene Zoltenko, chair of the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce.
"I think it's great to see more commercial development going in there. Anything that's going to help us increase that business tax base is a bonus to our residents," Zoltenko said.
One of the chamber's new strategies is to help create a vibrant community that's a regional hub, she said.
"When we talk about a regional hub, we talk about … people coming through St. Albert from the north and heading north. I think that [development] will help some of that along."
Coun. Malcolm Parker, a vocal advocate of economic development, is excited about the prospects of commercial development along the trail.
"The planning process moves at a very slow pace but now that it's done it's starting to really show that we are moving toward attracting business to the community," he said.
"With that north end of the community, it is starting to take on a life of its own.
