Thoughs on wildflowers & lawns
Recently, we received another email complaining about the dandelions, which I’ve been open about loving as a wild food, soil fixer, and for being a beautiful welcome into Spring. For anyone who hasn’t considered the history and impact of “perfect” lawns, free of native plants, I’d recommend taking a look at any number of resources that describe this. Below are two that are American-based, but apply to Canada:
“Grass on domestic lawns wants to do what wild grasses do in nature—namely, grow to a height of about two feet, flower, turn brown, and die. To keep it short and green and continuously growing means manipulating it fairly brutally and pouring a lot of stuff onto it. In the western United States about 60 percent of all the water that comes out of taps for all purposes is sprinkled on lawns. Worse still are the amounts of herbicides and pesticides—seventy million pounds of them a year—that are soaked into lawns. It is a deeply ironic fact that for most of us keeping a handsome lawn is about the least green thing we do [emphasis added]”.
― Bill Bryson, At Home: A Short History of Private Life
Agenda highlights
I suspect this will be a quick meeting.
St. Vital Ave - Roadwork re-prioritization(+$150,000-$335,000)
A member of Council has proposed that we re-prioritize work outside our normal process for St. Vital Ave, specifically to re-surface it rather than replace it. This is to support the Soapbox Derby event. Admin has recommended that we add $150,000 to the budget if we want to do this and up to $335,000 if we want to follow normal best practices & complete surrounding infrastructure as well. Effectively, this change could mean that this project would be moved up by ~5-7 years, a higher priority project might not be completed, we introduce infrastructure risk, and likely increase costs:
“Current planning… has the requested segment of St Vital Avenue as a candidate for asphalt work in 2029 (in the 5 to 7-year plan). Applying funding… earlier… means that there will be alternative priority candidate sites not completed that have been identified based on current state and “need”… [St. Albert] typically prioritizes.. on an asset “need” basis that is informed by asset condition level and cost-effective response treatments to best extend the life of the asset and ensure appropriate functionality; “right road, right treatment, right time”… If carried out as suggested by the motion, only asphalt surface work would occur; whereas better practice looks to address necessary supplemental infrastructure such as curbing and sidewalk, to address surface drainage in the area because of the influence of assets and the function of the roadway and impacts of poor surface drainage; as well as maximizing contractor costs associated with mobilization and economies of scale of asphalt and concrete work. Performing partial scope of work presents possible risk of investment, as drainage and impact from other failing adjacent infrastructure can minimize the life expected from the improvement.”
St. Albert West Area Structure Plan (1st Reading)
As a continuation of a process that started years ago, we’re getting to the next step of approving an updated plan that will guide development in the west outside the Cherot area that is already being actively developed. The background information for this is extensive, so I would encourage anyone with concerns to read the draft plan.
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 register to speak if they have information to present to council. Full agenda packages can be found on the stalbert.ca website.
