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St. Albert Mayor talks traffic, budget, regional co-operation

Mayor Cathy Heron sat down with the Gazette for an editorial board meeting on March 4.
1101 Heron 2020 hl
HANNAH LAWSON/St. Albert Gazette

This article results from a Q&A with Mayor Cathy Heron during an editorial board meeting at the St. Albert Gazette on March 4. Topics covered include Alberta’s 2020 budget, potential changes to the Local Authorities Election Act, traffic signals, road improvements and regional partnerships.

Testing for co-ordinated traffic signals underway

For St. Albertans hoping to traverse St. Albert Trail without constantly hitting red lights, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Heron said city staff are currently testing two separate adaptive traffic signal control systems, one on St. Albert Trail and the other along Boudreau Road. The latter was installed in January.

“Once we choose the most cost efficient ... better system, we will probably start investing in other ... high-priority roads,” Heron said, adding the evaluation should be completed by the end of the year.

St. Albert transportation manager Dean Schick said in an email the St. Albert Trail system was first introduced last year, but has since been taken offline due to "operational concerns with vehicle detection." Testing is expected to continue this summer, after the issues are addressed.

Co-ordinating signals has been a journey that required a foundational investment in fibre-optic broadband network, which emerged from the 2016 first iteration of St. Albert’s Smart City Master Plan.

Heron said over the past two years, one of council’s biggest investments has been “all about improving traffic,” which encompasses signal co-ordination, along with road widening.

Last spring, city council approved up to $26 million in borrowing for construction on St. Albert Trail, which will widen the trail from Boudreau to the northern city limits. Phase one, set to begin this year, will widen the trail up to just north of Coal Mine Road.

“It'll be nice and urbanized, nice wide lanes, thoroughfare turning lanes – all that,” she said.

St. Albert also nearly finished upgrades to the Boudreau/St. Albert Trail intersection last summer, and final paving will occur this spring.

Alberta Budget 2020

While municipalities were hit hard in the UCP government’s interim 2019 budget last fall, Mayor Cathy Heron said the city was “not disappointed” with Alberta’s 2020 budget.

After St. Albert saw about $620,000 stripped away in provincial funding sources last fall, municipalities were largely left untouched by the UCP’s latest budget released in late February. Reductions in provincial grants in lieu of property taxes, as well as municipal fine revenue, have already been budgeted for.

The one exception is the province's education requisition, which is being bumped up 4.2 per cent this year. Municipalities are required to collect that tax on behalf of the province, and Heron said that could create a perception challenge for St. Albert.

“I'm pretty sure most residents in St. Albert open up their property taxes and just look at the bottom line; they don't see how it's all divided out. So, I've already had conversations with (chief administrative officer Kevin Scoble) – can we just send out two different bills?” Heron chuckled.

Dollars aside, Heron said her biggest disappointment with the UCP government is a lack of consultation.

Last month, municipal leaders were blindsided when the Alberta government announced it would be reviewing the Local Authorities Election Act, last amended by the former NDP government in 2018.

Leaders across the province at an Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) President’s Summit worried this could open the door to partisanship within municipal elections, a concern Heron shares.

She noted consultations on potential election changes opened only after the review’s announcement. She said this indicates the government has already set its direction prior to any talks with stakeholders.

“We understand the funding, and we're willing to partner and work with the province on finding efficiencies and figuring out better ways to raise revenue and bring in jobs and bring in investment, but we can't do it if they don't have us at the table as partners,” Heron said.

Minister of Municipal Affairs Kaycee Madu has denied the reforms would open the door to partisanship within municipal elections, but Heron said there is the possibility of allowing political action committees as well, which can “cross that line.”

“I think the way we're doing right now is pretty pure and open and transparent,” she said.

The online survey closed March 4 and included questions on third-party advertising, citizen-initiated referendums and campaign length periods and finances. In-person focus groups with stakeholders will also be held.

Shared investment could be "game changer"

Area municipalities are investigating the concept of pooling financial resources to support regional assets, which Heron said could be a “game changer” for the region.

The idea, called Shared Investment for Shared Benefit, goes like this: a portion of every new assessment dollar from each municipality is pooled and invested in assets that benefit all residents in the region.

People from St. Albert, Leduc and Spruce Grove all visit the Art Gallery of Alberta, for example, but Edmonton shoulders the cost.

“The whole region could look very different if we're all contributing to those kinds of things, and with a recognition that we're all using them,” Heron said.

Currently the idea is being explored through an Edmonton Metro Regional Board (EMRB) task force, which has just hired a consultant to help out. Next steps include identifying what is regionally significant and how contributions would be realized.

When asked how much interest exists at the table currently, Heron said all 13 EMRB municipalities are still at the table.

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