Sturgeon County farmers won’t have to worry about St. Albert laws stopping their harvest if their land gets annexed by the city, but they might have to put their fireworks shows on hold.
St. Albert and Sturgeon County officials were holding three online town halls on the proposed Sturgeon County annexation from Oct. 20 to 22. The meetings gave residents a chance to learn more about how their lives would change should the province approve the annexation.
St. Albert agreed to annex some 1,588 hectares from Sturgeon County in September and is preparing to send the agreement to the Municipal Government Board for evaluation.
Should the province then approve the deal, the land swap would cause a host of changes to the lives of the roughly 68 county residents who live in the annexed area as they switch from county to city laws.
Questions and answers
Walter Tappauf owns and farms about 600 acres of land in the annexed zone. In an interview, he said one of his chief concerns was whether or not he’d have to pay St. Albert tax rates on his land.
Vicki Dodge, senior annexation planner with the City of St. Albert, said at the open house land in the annexed area would be taxed at the lower of city or county rates until 2066. Land owners would switch to city rates if they create more than four lots per parcel through subdivision, rezone their land or want to hook into city water and/or sewer services.
Tappauf also questioned whether the city would properly maintain roads in the annexed area, noting a previous annexation turned Hogan Road into “a frigging mudhole disaster.”
Dodge said St. Albert would maintain roads in the annexed areas to county standards in terms of gravel, dust control and snow removal, and to city standards once those roads were paved.
Tappauf was also concerned about how the city’s noise bylaw would affect farming operations.
Any noise produced by acceptable agricultural activities (including late-night harvesting) would be exempt from city noise laws, Dodge said.
In an interview, Georges Binette of the Riverlot 56 Society said he hopes the city will provide weed control and tax relief for the river lot as the county did in the past.
“Our main concern right now is whether the government is going to maintain us as a natural area,” he said – the province proposed earlier this year to remove some 164 parks from the provincial parks system, including Riverlot 56.
Dodge said the Riverlot 56 Society would remain the region’s steward, with the province saying it plans to extend the group’s lease on the area. The city has no plans to develop the region and plans to leave it as-is.
Dodge said all lands in the annexed area would be given a transitional land use that is a mix of agricultural and urban reserve, one that would allow any current land uses to continue.
“No one is going to be forced to develop their land if they don’t want to,” she said.
Dodge said rules for ATVs, fire pits and emergency services would stay the same until these lands are urbanized. County residents would have to license their dogs and non-farm businesses (existing businesses would be exempt from licence fees for five years), and would need to be licensed pyrotechnicians to set off fireworks (they could currently do so with a permit).
Annexed residents would have to haul their recycling to the Mike Mitchell depot in St. Albert instead of the Roseridge Landfill until curbside collection reaches their lands, Dodge said. The city and county are in talks with Roseridge to let annexed residents use the dump for trash.
The city and county plan to submit their application to the Municipal Government Board for review this December. If approved by the province, it could take effect Jan. 1, 2022.
Dodge encouraged residents to check out the online open house on the annexation at stalbertannexinfo.ca.
