Last weeks
Whoa, how it it already almost October! Some of my activities this month have included:
Alberta Municipalities Conference: I was only available to attend the first day of this conference in Red Deer, but it was fantastic being invited to speak. I also really enjoyed connecting with people from across the province who are passionate about supporting the success of their their communities.
Homeland Housing regular board meeting: I was back up in Morinville for our regular meeting with some of my favourite humans! Everything is going well, and we’re hopeful that the province will announce their support for the St. Thomas Street project soon.
State of the City: It was great seeing so many community builders at the State of the City even at the Enjoy Centre!
Annual meeting with the Arts & Heritage Foundation: Most of Council headed over to the grain elevators for our regular meeting with AHF. They’re doing amazing work with the art gallery, museum, and historical sites!
Suicide Prevention Day Vigil: It was heartwarming seeing so many staff at this annual event. This hits particularly close to home, with two amazing people I knew dying of suicide during this council term and another dear friend coming very, very close. Please reach out if you need help.
Youth Advisory Committee Meeting: As sometimes happens at the start of the school year, we didn’t quite have quorum for this meeting. Even without a formal meeting, it was fantastic catching up with and talking municipal governance & operations with this crew.
Last-minute vote - land acquisition
At about 4:30 Friday afternoon, Council was advised that we’ll be adding a couple of last-minute motions to the agenda. The second motion will only be debated if a 2/3 majority of Council supports it.
1. That the following Notice of Motion be debated at the October 1, 2024 regular meeting of Council and that the 20 day notice period requirement in section 119(9) of the Procedure Bylaw be waived.
2. That Administration make an offer to purchase the lands legally described as “Portion of St. Albert Settlement, River Lot 16” in response to EY ( the receiver’s ) Request for Offers to Purchase by October 18, 2024 for up to fair market value, to be funded from the Municipal Lands & Facilities Reserve, in accordance with applicable City policies, and that Administration provide a verbal update to Council at the October 15, 2024 regular meeting of Council regarding the status of the offer.
As it’s so last minute, we won’t get any background information to prepare for this debate and members of Council are essentially required to do their own research and apply our normal decision-making process to the question. My notes are so extensive here because normally, I’d just send interested persons to the staff-prepared backgrounder, but that doesn’t exist. The following are some of the questions I consider when I assess opportunities/requests for decisions:
How does this align with our strategic priorities? There is nothing in our strat plan about acquiring land, especially for no particular purpose. I get the sense that the intent would be that this land would be naturalized (or maybe turned into a park as an extension of the Red Willow Trail system?), but this is not specified. If my assumption is correct, an argument could be made that this aligns with our priority of “exploring innovative ways to reduce our [environmental] footprint, protecting waterways and green spaces” - acquiring land adjacent to the river with the intent to naturalize would protect the river.
What impact does this have on the budget? I have no idea what this land is worth - Are there any realtors reading this? Price tags aside, our Lands Reserve is great when we need to buy land for city uses - we’ll use it for completing the north extension of Ray Gibbon Drive/Fowler Way, for example, but it’s also great for buying land for fire halls, police stations, or public works yards. We’re also being pressured by the school boards to provide more land, but that’s a bit of a slippery slope because of the crossover into provincial jurisdiction. We could use this reserve to buy land to expand park space, but then we create risk in terms of our ability to use it for projects related to our strat plan or existing service levels. The next impact is to budgets related to a project to clean up and/or develop a new parcel of land. I have no idea what it would cost to make this land useable as either a developed or naturalized park space. Another aspect of cost is the project to change the land use designation from the current use to park space - Although there wouldn’t be a rush on this, it takes city resources, and we’d essentially be rubber-stamping it because the decision to rezone would have been made first and without public consultation.
What are possible high-level impacts of this decision? On the surface, this sounds great. I would love more naturalized space in St. Albert. But it’s my job to think on a 50,000-feet, strategic level. If the city does decide to shift its priorities so that land acquisition to grow park space is a priority, how will that impact our other capital priorities? Our 10-year capital plan - the costs we’re expected to incur for various new projects - is already grossly underfunded, so making this new park(?) a priority would mean something else, like a new pool, would likely be delayed further. I also wonder what impact this would have on land values and affordability if the city signals that acquiring land for park growth is a priority. Does the city want to be competing with developers for land that is earmarked for residential or commercial use? Is the intent that we take our Municipal Development Plan - the statutory document that guides development - back to the drawing board? If it’s a priority to expand protected space along the river, we should start by looking at which lands we’d like to shift from residential/commercial use and create a plan to get there.
What’s the impact of just seeing what happens & approving this motion if it doesn’t lock us in to actually buying something? Or maybe it does lock us in? I have no idea what the legal/legislative impacts are. And our staff are already stretched thin. We’re flat-out working on other projects related to land acquisition and growth projects. I don’t want to send anyone on a wild goose chase when it means we’ll have fewer resources to work on the projects we’ve committed to.
What’s the ethical message we’re sending by disregarding our policy about public notice? I ran on a platform of accountability and transparency, so I make every effort to ensure that the public is informed about possible decisions. Sometimes, last-minute motions are necessary, but I feel uneasy pushing through something like this that is such a shift in priorities without consultation. If land acquisition to expand naturalization is a priority, I believe it should be done thoughtfully, strategically, and with public consultation. I’m a believer in good governance and that means that I’d support debate of a motion to make the growth of naturalized areas a strategy under our “adapting to a changing natural environment” strategic priority, but I’m extremely hesitant to support a one-off specific decision like this one.
Agenda Highlights
St. Albert the Great statue ($30,000)
The Arts Advisory Committee has recommended that we replace the statue that was stolen & put the replacement indoors at St. Albert Place. I might pull this from our consent agenda because I’m curious if there was any discussion about risks related to the history of the person depicted - I don’t know much about him, and I’m very cognizant of the risks related to putting people on pedestals either through literal interpretations like these or naming municipal assets after people. I’m 100% supportive of hiring the original artist, I’m just hesitant about the subject.
Artist for the 2025 Children’s Festival ($12,000)
Yay! We approve some level of funding for this every year, so my only question is whether there is a mechanism to have this as part of the approved budget without having to come back to Council every year.
LED Recognition Lighting at St. Albert Place (+$125,000 to $250,000)
Ouch. I didn’t support this last year when it was only $125,000 so doubling the price makes me feel uneasy to say the least. I think we have many other projects in our capital project that should be higher priority.
Fire Truck (+$1M to $3,469,800)
We need a new truck for future firehall #4. The lead time to get one is years. Inflation has been brutal for these kinds of purchases, but this is needed equipment as we grow to the north.
Land Use Bylaw (1st Reading)
This update has been years in the making and is probably the second-most impactful decision that I’ve seen since I was elected in 2017, after the MDP re-write. 1st reading means that we’re giving notice that we’ll debate all the changes after a public hearing. Some of the big changes that are proposed include:
“a new district… for valued and protected environmental features. Several city-owned parcels are proposed to be redistricted…”
“full-cut off lighting fixtures, with the intent that light will be directed down towards the ground for new development, and be more dark sky friendly…”
Allowing employees to work at select types of home-based businesses.
“introducing triplexes and fourplexes, on corner lots with lane access…”
“Expanded secondary suite options…”
“Reduced parking ratios for affordable non-market housing units, and studio apartments.”
“A new use, ‘community garden’… [to] support food security, availability, and entrepreneurship through urban agriculture.”
Natural Gas Franchise Distribution Agreement (1 st Reading)
We’ve been without an agreement with ATCO for a while now, so this is a first step to get that sorted.
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.