St. Albert Minute: Building Demolition, Grass Growing, and a Tax Increase Approved

St. Albert Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of St. Albert politics

This Week In St. Albert:

• On Tuesday, at 1:00 pm, there will be a meeting of City Council. The agenda includes 2025 Public Appointments to St. Albert Civic Agencies and Quasi-Judicial Boards, as well as the Q2 2024 Community Policing Report. Amendments to the Community Standards Bylaw will be discussed, with updates related to vegetation management being recommended by Administration. The amendments introduce new definitions for "grass," "ornamental grass," and "weed," clarifying what constitutes each category. It also changes the regulation regarding the height of grass or weeds, setting a standard of 15 centimeters. [Editor: There's probably a watching grass grow joke in here somewhere.] At 2:00 pm, there will be a Public Hearing to redistrict three sites in the Cherot neighbourhood.
  
  
• The Youth Advisory Committee will meet on Wednesday at 6:30 pm. The agenda includes a Social Media Subcommittee update, a Grants Subcommittee update, and a roundtable discussion about subcommittees and the Young Edmonton Grant.
  
  
• Funding will be made available for the design of an asphalt parking lot at the Botanic Park. Council agreed to allocate $100,000 in the 2025 budget for the engineering work, however the $1 million needed for construction was not included in the budget, as the lot was not prioritized within the City's capital plan. Volunteers at the park had gathered 700 signatures supporting the project, but City staff cautioned against funding improvements for leaseholders. Despite the setback, the volunteers plan to seek grants for construction funding. Council members acknowledged the need for the parking lot, citing accessibility and high traffic, especially during weddings.

Last Week In St. Albert:

• Council settled on a 3.6% tax increase for 2025 after a lengthy session reviewing over two dozen proposals aimed at reducing the initial 4.5% increase. Councillors made several adjustments, including using the growth stabilization reserve to reduce the tax hike and increasing permit revenue projections. They also decided not to increase the subsidy for the City’s transit and recreation programs, despite rising demand. Councillor Shelley Biermanski proposed a general reduction motion that would have called on each of the City’s five major departments to find an average of $10,000 in efficiencies, but the motion failed.
  
  
• During the budget discussions, Councillor Shelley Biermanski withdrew a motion aimed at lowering the 2025 tax increase. Her motion proposed to reduce the annual contribution to the City's Public Art Reserve, which exceeded $1 million, but was withdrawn after hearing from Emily Baker, the City's Arts Advisory Committee Chair. Baker suggested that the reserve is crucial for supporting both small and large public art projects, and that the reserve's current balance is split between funds for new acquisitions and lifecycle maintenance, with no immediate impact on 2025 projects expected if the contribution was reduced.
  
  
• Demolition work began on the fire-damaged Citadel Mews West building. The building, which was severely damaged by a fire in May 2021, has been vacant since then. In September 2023, ownership of the property changed hands from Christenson Developments to the Nova Group of Companies, which now plans to replace the old building with a new apartment-style condo complex. The demolition is expected to take three months, and the new building, which will have a similar size and layout as the original, could be completed by 2026. Local businesses, such as Olympia Liquor, are hopeful that the new development will help restore lost customer traffic.

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