Time can be an excellent teacher.
It appears time has allowed city council to recognize the errors of its ways regarding the proposed waste-to-energy project and the proposed solar farm.
For the past few years, the city manager has been driving to the hoop in these areas, without a meaningful business case presented to the public.
Last week, council said good-bye to the $4-million waste-to-energy project, citing a lack of grants available, a lack of regional partnerships, and a lack of scale. This week, council asked administration to bring forward a detailed cost-analysis of three solar-farm options, as well as alternate uses for the Badger Lands — including commercial, residential, and industrial development.
Exploring alternate uses for the land was touted by the business community almost the minute the solar-farm proposal was run up the flagpole.
Coun. Sheena Hughes took the opportunity to remind council during the meeting. "This is about putting things in the proper order before we commit to large investments," Hughes said.
Council had agreed to spend up to $1 million on the waste-to-energy project, an agreement conditional on the city's ability to come up with 75 per cent of the project's funding from third-party sources.
Senior manager of utilities Regan Lefebvre's report to council Jan. 31 said one last meeting recently among regional chief administrative officers failed to drum up the cash needed to fund the project. Lefebvre said, despite "renewed interest," none of it would likely result in financial commitments without a substantial business case.
Once again, as with the solar-farm proposal still on the table, council put the cart before the horse.
A comment in a Gazette story in December 2019 also made mention of St. Albert's rush toward the waste-to-energy project before doing its due diligence.
Fort Saskatchewan Mayor Gale Katchur said at the time it felt like St. Albert was going outside the regional servicing plan and taking waste management into its own hands. “This just feels like it’s taking one step outside of what we’re doing as a collective group, to say, 'We’re just going to do it, hope you’ll follow,'” she said in 2019. Katchur also asked why St. Albert had not thought to approach its neighbours before municipal councils completed their 2020 budget talks.
The waste-to-energy pilot would have explored the design and construction of a temporary gasification facility, which would process nearly all of St. Albert's approximately 8,000 tonnes of brown-bin waste, diverting it from landfill.
The tab ended up coming in at around 3.5 times the current cost of landfill disposal, council heard last week.
In the process, the city spent $55,831 of the approved $1 million on permitting, and a report to council on administration's recommendation to abandon the pilot.
Permitting should never have been a part of that tab.
The community has told council over the last four years it wants more information, and that a solid business case should withstand public scrutiny.
Council has failed to provide oversight regarding this project, and has been all-too-willing to go along with the previous chief administrative officer’s recommendations.
It appears council has received the message the electorate expects more.
The entire community looks forward to a thorough and unbiased report this July to answer the many questions surrounding the viability of a solar farm on the Badger Lands.
Editorials are the consensus view of the St. Albert Gazette’s editorial board.
