Last week + Regular Council Meeting April 19, 2021
Last week highlights
EPR: Impacts and Opportunities for Alberta Municipalities: I attended an interesting webinar on Extended Producer Responsibility in Alberta. My hope is that our provincial program will be up-and-running sooner than later to help address the environmental and financial costs of waste.
Jack.org Meeting: Thank you to the local Jack.org chapter for inviting me to speak about the mental health challenges of political/executive roles, and the opportunities that municipalities have to support the mental health of their communities. This group of “young people working year-round to identify and dismantle barriers to positive mental health in their communities” is exceptional - Their concern and passion is genuine, and they give me hope for our future.
Municipal Innovation in Biodiversity Conservation: Thank you to the Chamber of Commerce for hosting this session on biodiversity. The guest speaker, Cam Jeffries, who teaches environmental-related-law at the University of Alberta was excellent.
Agenda highlights
External Auditor’s Year End Report
KPMG has completed our annual audit and will present their findings to Council. Findings and/or recommendations include:
Discrepancies between the approved 2020 budget and the actual budget (due to the pandemic), so there were recommendations re: how to account for these changes.
Recommendations re: capital plan budgeting to better reflect anticipated amortization rather than historical ones.
City of St. Albert Annual Report
Last year brought with it many unexpected challenges. Our 2020 Annual Report reflects the incredibly hard work of our staff last year, and also the work we have ahead of us to recover from the impacts of the pandemic:
Oakmont ASP (1st Reading) - Boudreau Communities
Last June, after about an 11-hour public hearing and meeting, Council did not approve an application to amend the ASP for the site just downstream from Shops on Boudreau & Botanica. This new application has been modified for lower residential density (a proposed 640 residents compared with last year’s 820), but is still seeking changes that would allow a more dense mixed-use development. The Public Hearing for this matter will be scheduled for May 18 starting at 9am.
Jensen Lakes 10th Redistricting (1st Reading)
This is to set the public hearing date (May 17) for a proposed amendment that would permit a small section of Jensen Lakes to build higher-density street-oriented townhomes that would be accessible from a lane.
Patios & Pop Ups
Last year, we made a temporary amendment that would allow restaurants and retail businesses to easily set up outdoor eating or shopping areas adjacent to their indoor business spaces without requiring typical permit fees. We are proposing to approve the same amendment for the 2021 season.
MDP Public Hearing (continuation)
A few weeks ago, Council delayed approval of the new MDP, so the public hearing will continue this week. We have quite a few speakers registered, but I believe we’ll only be hearing new information - So I’m not sure how many people will end up speaking. There were also several amendments proposed by councillors after the last meeting, some of which would require that we resubmit the plan to the EMRB and/or province should they pass - Admin does not support any of the proposed amendments and have outlines their rationale in our agenda package.
Letter - Coal Mining Pollution
This is a proposal to send a letter to the province “requesting a review of the impacts of strip mining in Alberta's Eastern Mountains, that municipalities are consulted as stakeholders on future coal policy changes and a moratorium is placed on ongoing coal exploration until after independent and extensive public consultation has occurred and a replacement Coal Policy is in effect”. Considering that the terms of reference for the committee that will oversee public consultation is not permitted to consider impacts to water or land use, I will likely propose an amendment to expressly encourage the government to allow consultation that considers these issues. This is of particular importance considering the recent $60M fine levied against a coal company due to their failures resulting in selenium contamination in BC rivers.
This is a brief and incomplete overview of our meetings, with my personal comments sprinkled in - In no way are my opinions representative of the official direction of council or the City of St. Albert. Please let me know of any typos or errors. Members of the public can also register to speak if they have information to present to council. Full agenda packages can be found on the stalbert.ca website.