I am a volunteer on a civic committee, a chair of a high school parent council, I have worked in the not-for-profit sector for over 25 years and I have been an Akinsdale resident for 18 years. It seems lately that at least one of these realities makes me a less community minded resident than I was several weeks ago.
My husband and I have been concerned about the size of this development and addressed a letter to the mayor and each city councillor in late January. To date the mayor has sent a reply to some of our concerns and only two city councillors acknowledged receipt of our letter. In that letter we tried to address our concerns about the number of townhouses — at 58 units — slated for this small parcel of land. At that time we were unaware that these units do not have basements or yards. Or that this developer, who stands to gain quite handsomely from this development, was the previous chair of Habitat For Humanity. Or that conversations regarding this development have been "in the works" for years between the city and Habitat. While there has been such a concentrated focus on Habitat for Humanity, only 15 units are designated as such.
While others are submitting their opinions about this development, I would like to say that it is in fact the resident neighbours that will have 58 new families as neighbours. The question that I keep coming back to is this: Whose job is it to work with residents to create and protect community? Over the years different projects have been brought forward for this site and, as with this proposal only after community opposition has the plan failed to materialize. Therefore it’s no secret that the school board would love to rid themselves of this property and it is equally clear that residents have been very concerned but never involved.
I know the City of St. Albert has a number of initiatives that put forward the valued outcome of building relationships within our community. Why, therefore have I never been invited to attend a planning meeting of all of these stakeholders to build a project that is open, honest and respectful of the concerns of everyone?
Would I not be a better ally? Akinsdale is a working-class community, we have children of all ages and families of all makeups. We probably have more in common with the target audience of this project than differences. Imagine the power of the neighbours bringing our tool belts to this site and eventually cookies to welcome new neighbours. Sounds too good to be true? It probably is right now! This community needs to be respected and involved in the planning of this site.
Kim St. Jean, St. Albert
