Coming Up: March 9
Council meets on Monday. The most interesting agenda items:
Downtown Business Improvement Area Budget
Skateboarding Master Plan
D Company Armourie Expansion
Riverstone Land Use Planning
Following is more information and my take on agenda items.
As always, any mistakes or opinions belong to me and me alone, not to Council or City staff.
While I express my current views below, I work hard to go into meetings ready to listen and with an open mind. I learn new information and participate in debate. This always informs, and sometimes changes, how I vote on issues.
If you would like to watch the meeting or read any of its supporting material for yourself, you can do so by clicking here. The City will post the highlights of Council’s decisions here.
DOWNTOWN BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT AREA BUDGET
In 1984, the Downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA) was formed. Businesses within this zone pay a special tax that funds the promotion of downtown. This budget is set and administered by the Downtown Association, but collected by the City.
Council will be voting on whether or not to approve the 2020 Downtown Association budget of $360,263. This is the same budget as 2019. I was at the Downtown Association AGM where it was presented, and heard no objections. I currently intend to vote in favour of supporting this budget.
D-COMPANY ARMOURIES EXPANSION
There are several community organisations working together to expand and improve the D-Company Armouries building in Swanavon. They want the building to better support existing programs while also providing more space for community events. It’s an exciting project.
Part of the land they wish to expand onto is designated as Municipal Reserve. Land which is set aside as Municipal Reserve can only be used for parks, public recreation areas, or school board purposes. The Armouries cannot expand while this designation is in place.
It is recommended that Council remove the Municipal Reserve designation from land adjacent to the Armouries. I currently intend to support this. Expanding the facility will bring benefit to the neighbourhood and to our entire community.
SKATEPARK MASTER PLAN
It has been recommended that Council adopt this Skatepark Master Plan.
The Plan estimates that, by 2028, we will need an additional 16,250 square feet of skatepark space to accommodate skaters in and around our region. It suggests spreading new space throughout the City by using smaller parks than we currently have. It also lays out a process to select and construct on new sites.
I support adopting this plan. Skateboarding is an important recreation activity that should be supported. We should have a plan to do so.
However, I will note that adopting a Master Plan is meant to guide future conversations. It does not make decisions in and of itself. For example, Council would need to add line items to our Capital Budget before any new skateparks got constructed. I do not know where I will land in those future discussions. But it is important that we have a plan in place to get them started.
RIVERSTONE OUTLINE PLAN
A developer in Riverstone is hoping to create a bare land condominium. The condo plan is described as a “Plus 55 Gated Community” with approximately 16 semi-detached dwellling units.
To accommodate this, the developer has requested changes to the Riverstone Outline Plan. Here is a map of what is proposed:
There is one change worth highlighting: it is proposed that a small park be removed from the plan area. In compensation, the developer would pay the City for the value of this park land when the land is subdivided. This cash paid to the City would be required to be spent on developing parks elsewhere in the community.
City administration supports the removal of this park for a number of reasons. The two which are most relevant to me:
There are two school sites and 4 other park sites within the plan area. Each home would still be within 400 - 600m of a park, which is what the City’s Parks Master Plan calls for
The plan includes a large Public Utility Lot cutting east to west throughout it. This will provide additional green space in the neighbourhood.
I’m likely to support the Outline Plan changes requested. They seem reasonable to me.
However, the developer is making another request that I am unlikely to support. That is a rezoning application to change 8.8 hectares of land from Residential to Urban Reserve. Usually a developer makes this type of request to qualify the land as farmland, which pays lower taxes. City administration estimates that this rezoning could save the landowner $15,000 per year.
For me to support re-zoning the land, I’ll need to be convinced that there is good reason to convert it to farmland from a land use planning perspective. I’m against using re-zoning just to change the taxes on a property. You can see more about my thoughts on this in this blog post, where I discuss a similar request that was made in Trader Ridge.
That’s what is on our agenda for Monday. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
You can comment below. Or, you can contact me at dbressey@cityofgp.com or 780-402-4166. I'm happy to talk online or over the phone. I'm also always willing to setup a time to meet for coffee.
We also always have great conversation in the GP Round Table group on Facebook.
After Council meeting, you will be able to find highlights posted by the City here.
Thanks for reading!
-Dylan