St. Albert officials went before a government panel this week to defend their plan to annex some 1,600 hectares of Sturgeon County.
About 45 people attended an online hearing of the Municipal Government Board April 22. The subject was the City of St. Albert’s application to annex 1,558 hectares of land along its northern borders from Sturgeon County.
St. Albert and Sturgeon officials submitted their joint annexation request to the board last December. Sturgeon County landowner Van Vuong filed an objection to it on Jan. 21, triggering a public hearing.
Although Vuong later withdrew his objection, presiding board member Frank Wesseling said the board would proceed with the April 22 hearing in case anyone else had objections to the annexation.
Speaking for the City of St. Albert, lawyer Gwendolyn Stewart-Palmer said St. Albert and Sturgeon County had addressed all issues related to the annexation and asked the board to recommend the plan’s approval.
Darren Young of ISL Engineering said the annexation would net St. Albert enough land for about 45 years of growth. The annexation was a joint submission by the city and Sturgeon County that met all 15 of the board’s annexation principals (which, among other matters, say annexations should demonstrate co-operation, respect the environment, and be based on effective public consultation).
Young said the 80-odd county residents in the annexed area would be taxed at the lower of St. Albert or Sturgeon rates for the next 45 years unless they rezoned their land, divided it into more than four parcels, or hook it to city sewer or water services. They would not get curbside recycling service until their neighbourhoods were urbanized, but could use the city’s recycling depot. Local roads would be maintained to county standards prior to development.
Young said St. Albert had agreed to pay the county $600,000 in compensation for taxes lost due to this annexation.
Border dispute
Two residents asked the board to tweak the annexation border near Rural Route 253 and Township Road 544.
Resident David Kent said the proposed border would add one corner of his wife’s triangle-shaped property north of Coal Mine Road and east of RR 253 to St. Albert, fragmenting it. He asked that the border be changed to add either more or all of this land to the city.
Young said the border was marked as it was in this spot so as to align with the future route of 127 Street and local wastewater drainage patterns.
Resident Kerry Chatwin owned land next to the Kent property and asked to be cut out of the annexation. His land was on the opposite side of the future 127th St., and it was unlikely that the city would extend water and sewer lines to it.
“I’ll be on the outside looking in and still paying St. Albert school taxes and all the rest,” he said.
Wesseling said the board would consider the evidence presented at the hearing and make recommendations to Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver within four months. McIver and his fellow cabinet ministers would then approve, deny, or modify the annexation, which could take up to three months.
If approved, St. Albert and Sturgeon County councils have asked for the annexation to take effect Jan. 1, 2022.
Details on the annexation are available at stalbert.ca/dev/planning/annexation/sturgeon-county-land-annexation.
