Congratulations to the mayor, city council and stakeholders on their recent downtown area redevelopment plan (DARP). This is a plan that looks 20 to 30 years down the road. This type of vision is important. I do have some questions and concerns.
Having worked as a volunteer on the city’s parks and open spaces committee, DARP is diametrically opposed to the concepts of parks and open spaces. Vistas will also be lost. The only open spaces to be left are to be given to our friends at Impark (or a similar company). Thus, another tax for those visiting the library, Profiles or city hall.
Was a needs assessment completed for DARP? Have any entrepreneurs looked at DARP to see if it is feasible, to double the present population of this small area?
I am not opposed to this vision; it seems to take in many of the principles of smart growth, which was studied by council only months ago. I wanted to see it accompanied by a financial plan. And I believe this vision has the wrong focus for now.
The Sturgeon River is to be the focus around which DARP will be built. On all diagrams, the river is coloured a beautiful shade of blue. Perhaps, because the planners were from Toronto, they had never seen the real river. Until about 70 years ago, the Sturgeon was the focus for St. Albert, in terms of water, food, transportation and trade. Then we started dumping garbage and storm water into the river. We have also taken large amounts of water out.
Water is life. Let us change DARP by starting with the river. Let’s fix the river, with help of the provincial and federal governments. this would be a wonderful opportunity to clean the Sturgeon and make it a true focus, instead of an embarrassment.
The city, the library, the art gallery and developers will be proud to build around it.
Pat Collins, St. Albert
