TAMRMS#: B06
13.1
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NE St. Albert School Site Servicing Plan
Notice given by: Councillor Hughes
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PROPOSED MOTION(S):
recommendation
That the following Notice of Motion be debated at the November 19, 2024, regular meeting of Council, and that the 20-day notice period requirement in section 119(9) of the Procedure Bylaw be waived.
That administration develops a servicing plan with costs that can be implemented by Q2 of 2025 that would have the NE St. Albert school site serviceable or considered "shovel ready" for a high school and provide the plan for council's approval by February 7, 2025.
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ADMINISTRATION’S UNDERSTANDING OF THE INTENT OF THE MOTION
Administration understands this motion to direct staff to develop a servicing plan for an existing private parcel of land that has been identified as a school site within the currently unapproved Northeast Area Structure Plan.
ADMINISTRATION’S RECOMMENDATION
Administration recommends following the existing standard process as shared in Attachment 1. This workflow involves not only stakeholder / landowner / developer applications and approvals, but the work associated with increasing network system capacity (NE Servicing). This recommendation is directly associated with following the path of the Attachment and is not (at this time) suggesting approval of funding of the NE Servicing project until further planned work is performed and presented to Council. Given an ideal progression with no unforeseen delays or setbacks, 2027 is when the school site would be considered “shovel ready”.
PURPOSE OF REPORT
The purpose of this report is to present a motion for which Councilor Hughes gave notice on November 12, 2024.
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL DIRECTION OR MANDATORY STATUTORY PROVISION
On November 5, 2024 Council passed the following motions:
PH-24-009
That the Public Hearing on Bylaw 16/2024 be closed.
That Bylaw 16/2024, being the adoption of the Northeast St. Albert Area Structure Plan, be read a first time.
That Schedule A of Bylaw 16/2024 be referred to the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The Government of Alberta recently announced a 3-year $8.6 billion School Construction Accelerator Program to create new and modernized student spaces.
Administration and School Boards/Divisions traditionally work in partnership to enable an integrated approach to determine the long-term planning and use for school sites on reserve lands. Work on a formal agreement between the City and School Divisions is underway, called the Joint Use and Planning Agreement (JUPA). This agreement will provide a framework for planning, developing, and servicing school sites, as well as outline how school sites are allocated to the various School Divisions. It is anticipated the JUPA will be completed in Q2 2025.
There are currently three available (serviced and subdivided) school sites, which are located within the communities of Cherot (Community Amenities Site), Oakmont, and Riverside.
Current Status of Site Readiness for NE School Site:
The following represent high level, yet critical considerations for the requested school site location to be “shovel ready”.
1. Ownership - the lands are currently owned by a private developer.
2. Planning and Zoning - the lands are currently outside of an approved Area Structure Plan (NE ASP is at first reading approval) and are zoned agriculture.
a. The site requires ASP approval and would then require the developer to apply for a Neighbourhood Plan, then subdivision, followed by redistricting of the parcel to Municipal/School Reserve.
3. Site Servicing - the northeast development area has sanitary and storm capacity constraints that would need to be resolved through the northeast servicing project.
For discussion and to meet the intent of the final deliverable of the motion which is to have the parcel approved as a school site and serviceable, Administration has drafted a high-level phasing plan to advance to a “shovel-ready” school site (Attachment 1).
The phases shared within the Attachment, align to the following steps:
1) Planning and Development Path
• Area Structure Plan (ASP) - This overarching plan is typically created by the land developer and submitted to Administration and Council for approval, as it identifies potential or desired school site locations. Development and associated servicing should not occur without the approved ASP completed.
• Neighbourhood Plan (NP) - This more detailed site area plan is also created by the land developer and submitted to Administration for approval, as it provides technical information around the dedicated parcel(s), road network, technical reports (traffic impact, environmental, geotechnical). Considerations of redistricting and subdivision should not occur without a Neighbourhood Plan.
• Redistricting - the lands are redistricted to allow for permitted uses or activities as outlined in the Land Use Bylaw.
• Subdivision - the area for the school site is divided out of the parent parcel which allows for title and ownership to be exchanged.
• Development Agreement / Site Servicing - the subdivided parcel is required to have servicing in place such as legal roadway access and utilities. The Development Agreement outlines the site servicing work to be undertaken by the developer to meet the conditions of the subdivision.
• Endorsement / Transfer of Ownership - the subdivision receives endorsement, and the title is created and transferred to the City as Municipal Reserve.
2) Engineering Path (Northeast Servicing Project):
• Cost Sharing Agreement - negotiate the front-ending cost apportionment between the City and benefitting developers to support the offsite levy project.
• Fiscal Impact Analysis - review impacts of the City’s investment into the northeast servicing project including debt capacity, debt servicing, and long-term impacts.
• Project Charter Approval - Council approval of the scope and funding for the project.
• Borrowing Bylaw - Council approval to authorize the City to utilize debt funding as a component of the overall funding for the servicing project.
• Tendering & Construction - the project will be contracted, constructed, and put into operation.
Considerations and Challenges:
Many of the processes within the Planning and Development Path are led by the landowner / developer, which includes the Area Structure Plan, Neighbourhood Plan, Redistricting, Subdivision, Site servicing design and construction, and Endorsement.
To advance this motion would require commitments and actions from the developer to undertake these items, as well as financial investment. To ensure a return on their investment, the developer may desire to develop other/additional lands within the initial staging along with the school site. Such a consideration would add further complexity to the application and would result in additional time for Administration to perform associated reviews. The proposed Planning and Development schedules shown on Attachment 1 are estimated using reasonable timeframes associated with a simpler application associated to targeting the school parcel.
For the Engineering Path, Administration presented next steps, and the work plan associated with the NE Servicing project during the November 5th Council Meeting. The anticipated schedule to complete those next steps is shared within Attachment 1. As part of the undertaking of the comprehensive administrative review and fiscal impact analysis, information will be provided to Council outlining the full extent of risks and potential benefits of proceeding with the project.
As it is still very early in the overall process, there may be additional City-responsible costs with subdividing and servicing this school site. If the school site is larger than the MGA required land dedication by the developer, then the City would be required to pay the market value of the additionally requested land. Costs may be recouped as additional quarter sections develop and provide cash in lieu of MR.
IMPACTS OF MOTION
Financial:
To support the servicing of the school site, the $74M (approximate) Northeast Servicing Project will require funding approval and the project to advance, due to existing network system capacity constraints. A Fiscal Impact Analysis is currently underway, along with other project review and the results of work are planned to be presented to Council in Q1 2025, which will inform towards consideration of project funding approval.
Compliance & Legal:
Currently, this school site is located within the yet-to-be-approved Northeast Area Structure Plan (ASP). This ASP is currently before the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB) for review. Before St. Albert City Council can approve this statutory document, the region must determine its conformity with the Growth Plan. Upon EMRB approval, City Council may then approve the bylaw (Bylaw 16/2024 - Northeast St Albert ASP) second and third readings. The review and approval actions of the Bylaw are anticipated to require a timeframe of until mid to end of February 2025.
Following the ASP approval, and aligned to St. Albert's Planning and Development Process, the applicant (either the St. Albert Public School Board, Landrex, or the Province) would then need to submit a Neighbourhood Structure Plan (NSP). Assuming this Plan meets the requirements outlined in the Terms of Reference, it is anticipated to be approved within four to six months. The Neighbourhood Plan will detail necessary underground utilities, transportation infrastructure, geotechnical conditions, a Financial Impact Assessment, Historical Resources Act approval, and other items specified in the TOR. The influence of the NSP is the further detailed site-specific technical reviews that reduce risk of impacts of unknowns and empower the Developer to be fully prepared for site development needs and the City to be aware of site conditions, constraints and operational or functional influence of development within the area.
Completion of the NSP is the responsibility of the landowner, developer, or applicant to complete this process. Should Council want the City to take on the completion of the Neighbourhood Structure Plan, a project charter would need to be developed to determine the scope, schedule, costs (consulting would be required), and staffing requirements to develop the Neighbourhood Plan.
Opportunity to reduce overall timeframes may include consideration of the applicant to concurrently apply for redistricting of the land for the school site. Redistricting is essential for school development and requires Council approval. This process typically takes about six months to complete, aligning with the Province of Alberta's Municipal Government Act."
Program or Service:
Currently there are no existing services, including water, sanitary, and stormwater to this site. To provide service to the site, the following new infrastructure is required:
1. Water
Currently the City’s water network stops at the north end of Element Dr, an extension of the existing watermain is needed to service the school site. However, based on the NE ASP servicing report conducted by Invistec, a temporary booster station will be required to meet the fire flow demands at the school site, without the extended watermain from Bellerose Rd, as part of the NE Serving project.
• City Utilities does not support a temporary booster station, as it will become redundant with future water looping and/or after connecting to the extended Bellerose Road water main.
2. Sanitary
There is no available sanitary capacity for this site. There are two potential solutions:
• Option 1 - Advancing the NE servicing project will provide additional sanitary capacity. The school site could then connect to the existing sanitary mains on Element Drive.
• Option 2 (subject to verification) - The developer can construct the ultimate/permanent sanitary lift station with extra storage, which may provide enough capacity to support the school site. This would require detailed analysis on the design sewage flows to ensure available interim capacity.
3. Storm
Currently the site has no storm service or any available tie-in point. An interim storm service may be available depending on the size of the site. Ultimately, the school site will drain to the proposed Erin Ridge North SWMF #5.
With the required new infrastructure to support the school site, the NE servicing project becomes critical. The timing of the NE servicing project should advance prior to the school site servicing. Consideration is given that the NE servicing project should be at least 6 months into construction before development applications can be processed. This would help ensure the ultimate servicing is in place before any potential site occupancy.
Organizational:
Proceeding with this Council Motion will impact staffing within the Planning and Engineering sections, which have limited resources/funding to facilitate this request.
Currently Administration is targeting delivery of strategic priorities of Council with development and servicing planning and programming towards the St Albert West Area Structure Plan and addressing applicable development applications and capital project delivery within the priority growth areas of the Municipal Development Plan.
Prioritizing the NE ASP and specific development of the land parcel of the school site will influence Administration’s capacity to perform in all of these areas and a reprioritization of workloads may be required. There would be challenges with meeting the proposed motion timeframes, not only due to the reliance on developer action for key deliverables, but also to allow sufficient time for City staff to review and respond to the applications. With expectations of another year of high planning and development demands coming from development in the west, trade-offs would need to occur if staff were to prioritize the various applications that would be needed for the school site.
Risks
• A comprehensive administrative analysis is currently being undertaken related to the Northeast Servicing Project. The financial investment of ~$74m for the northeast servicing project to enable the additional development in the northeast (including the school site) will analyze fiscal impacts and long-term impacts with results brought forward to Council for advisement. The current network system does not have capacity for consideration of new development servicing and approving development in advance of the NE Servicing project or potential of upgrading to the system is a risk to the City’s ability to support new development.
• Given an ideal scenario and no unforeseen delays or setbacks, 2027 is when the school site would be considered “shovel ready”.
o In 2027, the $8.6B School Construction Accelerator Program would be in its last year of the program and it is unknown how costs would be allocated. Further discussion with the school boards would be required to understand risks associated with meeting this opportunity.
• The expedition of approvals and forgoing standard process of planning and development approval/permitting, subjects the City to risk in terms of stakeholder relationships such as the development community. Targeted focus to a single parcel versus consideration of the Developer needs and desired outcomes for the larger area or the consideration of precedence being set may be a liability for addressing future development applications.
ALIGNMENT TO PRIORITIES IN COUNCIL’S STRATEGIC PLAN
To enable this request, this project would need to be prioritized over all other projects listed within the Council’s Strategic Plan.
ALIGNMENT TO LEVELS OF SERVICE DELIVERY
N/A
ALTERNATIVES
N/A
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Report Date: November 19, 2024
Author: Maggie Wang, Jordan Betteridge,
Department: Engineering Services
Department Director: Dean Schick (Acting)
Managing Director: Adryan Slaght
Chief Administrative Officer: Bill Fletcher