While I very much agree with the need for affordable housing here in St. Albert and also the development in Akinsdale, I have some very big concerns about this one.
You don't have to flip all the way and build a shantytown in that place. Find a compromise, build fewer units there and above all things don't let them build those units without basements. That suggestion is gross.
Take Grandin: I am sure that we have the highest population density in this community. Grandin Village I and Grandin Village II, for example, plus all the other big areas with condominiums and townhouses, apartment buildings, etc. In Grandin Village people only have the community parking lot in the middle of their crescents, but they do have small front yards, small back yards and they do have basements. Some people and families have lived there for decades and they are totally happy there. They are within walking distance of schools, public transit, playgrounds, a convenience store, etc.
At the other end we do have very big lots and estates here in Grandin also. Take Glenview Crescent, Grandin Place and we have quite a few more here. In the 1960s Grandin was the new area and addition to St. Albert and they built it all-inclusive and nobody had any problem with that at all. St. Albert was an all-inclusive, very friendly community with great schools and friendly neighbourhoods. It was a wonderful place to raise your family. I wished that they hadn't come off that view of the community ever. But then of course they did: One horrible example was the “run-around” the French school got, although St. Albert was originally a French community. When we came out here everybody spoke French in the stores, post office and banks on Perron Street, which in those days was indeed the vibrant centre of the community.
Then they finally got permission to build their school in Heritage Lakes but after a struggle because of all those NIMBY arguments from the people there. It was very painful to read all those articles and letters in those days.
Akinsdale is a great place to build the affordable housing unit but give those people some decent homes to live in with basements and little plots and fences around them to call their own. Don't flip and build a shantytown.
Lilo Engler, St. Albert
