St. Albert residents have a variety of opinions on how the city should grow, ranging from building more roads to keeping things the way they are.
More than a dozen residents trickled into the St. Albert Curling Club on Wednesday for the city's second open house on its efforts to rewrite the city's municipal development plan, with an eye to havng the city eventually reach a population of 100,000.
The meeting came a few months after the city officially launched its rewrite in November with a summit and open house.
St. Albert resident Darrell Roth attended Wednesday's open house because he wanted to see what the city was doing. He said he isn’t against the city growing but wanted to make sure his tax dollars are being spent in the right places.“(First) of all, we need to get a ring road built,” he said. “We got an inner ring road and years ago they were talking about an outer ring road. That’s got to be picked up on and put back in place because of the outlying areas (that) will come to St. Albert.”
Roads aren’t the only piece of infrastructure Roth wants the city to look at investing in. For starters, he would like to see improved rodeo grounds, more community halls for events and something to be done about parking. He said he went to the senior centre but couldn’t find a place to park.
Fellow residents Mike and Clara Marks also attended the open house to learn more about what the city had planned. Mike said he simply doesn’t want to see the city become too crowded, especially in the downtown area.
“There are some people who would want to put in a big parking lot in front of city hall and I don’t like that sort of thing,” he said. “I think we got a very nice downtown right now and I think it should stay that way.”
Clara agreed with her husband and said she hopes the city isn’t considering putting in large 20-storey high rises or anything like that, which could take away from the appeal of the downtown area.
Neither felt the city is at risk of losing its small-town feel, though.
Katie Mahoney, a senior long-range planner with the city, explained the municipal development plan (MDP) – which has been dubbed "Flourish" – will guide the city’s growth and development until the population hits 100,000. The city is looking at three distinct growth scenarios, with one focusing on the west, one on the north and one looking at growth along St. Albert Trail.
“We’re looking for the community’s input on what they like about the scenarios and what they don’t like,” Mahoney said. “From that, we will take the input and develop a growth strategy. So we’re looking for input on specific components of each scenario.”
She said the important factor to remind residents about is to focus on what components they like about St. Albert as the city continues to grow. Then the goal will be to maintain those special characteristics as more growth and development happens.
“Another way to look at it is the MDP is a plan about your children’s future,” she said. “It is a long-range plan but it’s a very important plan.”
A draft plan is expected to be completed by the end of the year and will have to go to the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board for an initial review. The plan is to have all the official approvals completed in the first quarter of 2020.
Residents can still provide input by going to pop-up booths at 400 Campbell Road from 1 to 3 p.m. on March 28, and from 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. on March 29. The city's public participation calendar shows more booths are expected in April.
