St. Albert Minute: Issue 124

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

📅 This Week In St. Albert: 📅

• The City of St. Albert estimates the cost of cleaning up after this summer's storms could exceed $250,000. A series of storms through June and July brought flooding and high winds that knocked down trees and damaged public property across the city, with the heaviest damage concentrated along the Sturgeon River. City spokesperson Cory Sinclair said the initial cost of the overland flooding response alone, including setting up and removing flood mitigation measures along the river, site security, and staff time, is roughly $100,000. The City has applied to the provincial Hazard Assistance and Resilience Program, which requires it to have incurred at least $255,250 in costs to qualify. If the application is approved, funding may also become available to residents who experienced flood damage. Administration is encouraging residents and businesses to photograph and track any flood-related costs in case they can later apply for assistance.
  
  
• St. Albert Inn and Suites has won its appeal to convert part of the hotel into apartments after the City initially refused the change. The hotel applied for a development permit to turn 28 long-term hotel rooms in its north wing into apartments aimed at seniors, with no new construction proposed and the rest of the property continuing to operate as a hotel. City planners refused the permit because the City's Land Use Bylaw requires each apartment to have a private amenity area such as a balcony or patio, and the application provided none. Development officer Melanie Smith cautioned that the permit would authorize apartment units generally and that future occupancy could not be limited to seniors. General Manager Michael Mazepa, who has been with the inn for 50 years, argued that "hotels must adapt to remain viable" as the hospitality industry changes. The owners appealed to the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board, which heard the case on July 22nd and has since granted the change of use, allowing all 28 units to be converted.
  
  
• Mayor Scott Olivieri says he would consider creating a new tax subclass to penalize owners of derelict properties, pointing to the long-stalled redevelopment of the former Blind Pig Pub site in downtown St. Albert. The property at St. Anne Street and St. Albert Trail was demolished in 2020 to make way for an eight-storey, 118-unit mixed-use building, but six years on the site remains a large hole with little visible construction. Olivieri said he recently spoke with the developer, Niche Developments, and shares residents' frustration, while the City's planning and development director confirmed the developer holds the permits needed to proceed. The project has stalled repeatedly, including in 2021 when cracks were found in steel piles already driven underground, which delayed work until 2023. Olivieri noted that the City of Edmonton created a tax subclass in 2024 to charge higher rates on derelict properties, including buildings left abandoned partway through construction, and said he would be willing to explore a similar measure when Council reconvenes in September.
  
  
• The Alberta NDP brought its provincewide consultation tour on AI data centres to St. Albert on August 4th, holding a session at the Red Willow Seniors Centre to hear residents' concerns about Meta's $13-billion data centre planned in neighbouring Sturgeon County. Deputy leader and Edmonton-Whitemud MLA Rakhi Pancholi said the party was trying to gather feedback the provincial government had not, citing residents who feel they lack information about what the projects will mean for their communities. The project sits in Sturgeon County, though some St. Albert residents live close to the industrial area and took part in the session.
  
  
• The Musée Heritage Museum has opened a new exhibition, "St. Albert in Uniform", which runs until October 31st at St. Albert Place. Curator Martin Bierens drew largely on the museum's permanent collection to explore the city's history through the uniforms of its main community pillars, including religion, law enforcement, the military, youth groups, sports, health care, and labour. Among the pieces is the Canadian Women's Army Corps uniform worn during the Second World War by St. Albert-born Dorothy Chartrand, a Métis woman who enlisted when women were first able to. Other items include a 1970s RCMP dress uniform and a heavy buffalo-hide RCMP coat retired in 1945, a rose-coloured chasuble worn by Roman Catholic priests, and a finger-woven Assumption Sash associated with Métis and French-Canadian settlers. The recreation display features scouts and guides uniforms, sports jerseys, and hockey cards, with local NHL players Jarome Iginla and Mark Messier among those featured and two-time Olympian Meaghan Mikkelson honoured on a panel.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

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