St. Albert Minute: Issue 123

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

📅 This Week In St. Albert: 📅

• There are no City Council or Committee meetings scheduled this week. Council remains on its scheduled summer break, which the City's official meeting calendar marks as running from July 15th to August 31st. The next regular City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 1st at 9:30 am.
  
  
• City Council voted 6-1 to require construction debris management plans in all new development agreements, with the details coming back for Council approval by November 17th. The motion from Councillor Sheena Hughes builds on a bylaw passed in April to tackle construction debris polluting sites and other communities around St. Albert. Administration examined surrounding municipalities and found the City of Leduc was the only one with such a plan. Eevelopment Engineering Manager John Reid argued a plan would add nothing that is not already in St. Albert's development agreements and bylaws, since most debris comes from builders rather than developers. Enforcement of the April bylaw has so far produced one ticket and 22 public complaints, which Policing Services Manager Aaron Giesbrecht attributed partly to capacity issues at Municipal Enforcement Services. Councillor Ken MacKay cast the lone vote against, saying existing rules should be given more time to work. Hughes acknowledged Administration's concerns but said Council should "give it a shot and see how it works out".
  
  
• Meanwhile, Councillor Sandy Clark has submitted a notice of motion asking that the Mayor, on behalf of City Council, write a letter endorsing the Rotary Club of St. Albert and its Peace Action Group's application to designate St. Albert as a City of Peace under the International Cities of Peace initiative. Clark filed the motion by email on July 17th, during Council's summer break. Notices of motion are normally read into the public record near the end of a regular Council meeting, and the City says that practice will continue. However, when Council meetings are more than a week apart, the City will now also issue a news release announcing any notices of motion received, a change it says is meant to keep residents and the media informed.
  
  
• St. Albert RCMP officers spent 10 hours patrolling the city's trails and parks by golf cart over the July 18th weekend, following what Corporal Curtis Harsulla described as numerous resident complaints since late spring about e-bikes, e-scooters, and electric dirt bikes being driven dangerously. Officers issued 10 violations or warnings and around $2,000 in fines, for offences ranging from open liquor in public to failing to wear a bicycle helmet. Police are investigating one resident for reportedly stunting on an electric dirt bike, and encountered one other electric dirt bike during the patrols. Dirt bikes are considered off-highway vehicles and are not allowed in St. Albert. Officers also handed out 32 "positive tickets" to trail users who were wearing helmets and riding respectfully, and Harsulla said police will continue patrolling in various ways to keep the city's roads and trails safe.
  
  
• Speaking of police, St. Albert's Crime Severity Index fell by 12.5% in 2025, outpacing the provincial decline of 6.6%, with police saying the city has remained consistently safe over the past decade. Property-related offences, including break and enters, thefts under $5,000, and fraud, were the largest contributors to the index, although overall crime severity declined. The biggest improvement came from a significant drop in assault cases, along with fewer drug trafficking offences and one fewer homicide than the previous year. RCMP say recent enforcement efforts and fraud prevention initiatives appear to be having an impact, but they also emphasized that education and partnerships with community organizations are essential to addressing the social issues that contribute to crime. Police are encouraging residents to continue reporting crimes and suspicious activity, particularly scams, to help prevent victimization and maintain public safety.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

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