In response to “Akinsdale split on Habitat plan,” Jan. 16 Gazette:
As a resident of the community surrounding the 70 Arlington Dr. school site that is proposed to be developed by Apollo and Habitat, I have been hard pressed to find the split in opinion that reporter Cory Hare referred to. A group of my neighbours and I have polled more than 100 homes in our community and have failed to find more than two residents that support this proposal. I could not find a Mr. James Mabey in our community. I do not believe that this constitutes much of an “Akinsdale split.”
This land is a major part of the largest park in our community. The school grounds in St. Albert make up a major part of community parks. The loss of any one of these grounds would be a significant loss to the community. The fact that St. Albert Protestant Schools did not build a school on this property does not make it any less valuable as a park to those of us who reside near it. As Edmonton has demonstrated, schools age and become redundant. Is it St. Albert’s plan to sell these properties off to private developers? The sale of this property will set a precedent that will be hard to ignore
As Mr. MacKay points out in his (Jan. 19) letter, these school properties are extremely valuable (with or without a school). I agree with Mr. MacKay’s assessment of this transaction with one exception: his recommendation that this property should be sold and Akinsdale residents compensated. I believe that I speak for the majority of the residents surrounding this land when I say the only compensation that we want is that this property remains as a park, as it has been for the last 35 years. The one change we would request is to make it official.
Dave Evans, St. Albert
