TAMRMS#: B06
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Bylaw 32/2019 ASP; Bylaw 33/2019 MDP; Bylaw 34/2019 LUB (1st Reading) - Erin Ridge North Amendments
Presented by: Suzanne Bennett, Planner, Planning & Development Department
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RECOMMENDATION(S)
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1. Bylaw 33/2019 Municipal Development Plan Amendment
That Bylaw 33/2019, being amendment 21 to the Municipal Development Plan 15/2007, redesignating a portion of land from Residential to Commercial, be read a first time.
2. Bylaw 32/2019 Erin Ridge North Area Structure Plan Amendment
That Bylaw 32/2019, being amendment 10 to the Erin Ridge North Area Structure Plan 33/2009, redesignating the subject lands from Mixed-Use Commercial with Residential designation to Commercial, be read a first time.
3. EMRB Referral
That Bylaw 32/2019, be referred to the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB) for decision.
4. Bylaw 34/2019 Land Use Bylaw Schedule A Amendment
That Bylaw 34/2019, being amendment 172 to the Land Use Bylaw 9/2005, to redistrict the subject property from Direct Control Mixed Use to Regional Commercial, be read a first time.
5. That a Public Hearing for Bylaw 34/2019, Bylaw 32/2019, and Bylaw 33/2019 be scheduled on March 16, 2020.
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PURPOSE OF REPORT
This report discusses proposed amendments to the Municipal Development Plan, the Erin Ridge North Area Structure Plan, and the Land Use Bylaw Schedule A. The Erin Ridge North ASP amendment requires a referral to the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB). Once there is a decision from the EMRB on the ASP all three amendments require a public hearing and Council’s approval as per the requirements in the Municipal Government Act (MGA).
ALIGNMENT TO PRIORITIES IN COUNCIL’S STRATEGIC PLAN
Strategic Priority #2: Economic Development: Enhance business/commercial growth.
• Develop and recommend Green Tape 2.0 initiatives to enable increased growth, investment, and commerce in St. Albert focusing on a strong collaborative model.
ALIGNMENT TO LEVELS OF SERVICE DELIVERY
Land Use Planning
Service: Current Planning Application Processing:
Statutory Plan Amendments
Definition: Processing and coordination of the approval of Statutory plans and amendments, subdivision and condominiums applications.
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL DIRECTION OR MANDATORY STATUTORY PROVISION
The Municipal Government Act, Planning Bylaws, Section 692(1) states:
Before giving second reading to
(b) a proposed bylaw to adopt a municipal development plan,
(c) a proposed bylaw to adopt an area structure plan,
(d) a proposed bylaw to adopt land use bylaw
(e) a proposed bylaw amending a statutory plan or land use bylaw referred to in clauses (a) to (e),
a council must hold a public hearing with respect to the proposed bylaw in accordance with section 230 after giving notice of it in accordance with section 606.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd., on behalf of the landowner, Landrex Inc., submitted an application that included:
• Amendment of the Municipal Development Plan (MDP), redesignating a portion of the Future Land Use map from Residential to Commercial designation, so the subject parcel is designated entirely for future Commercial use. Currently a portion of the property is designated for future Residential use.
• Amendment of the Erin Ridge North Area Structure Plan (ASP) to redesignate the lands from Mixed-Use Commercial with Residential, to solely Commercial.
• Amendment of the Land Use Bylaw Schedule A to redistrict the lands from Direct Control Mixed-Use (DCMU) District to Corridor Commercial (CC) District.
• Based upon discussions with the City of St. Albert Administration, the applicant changed their Land Use Bylaw amendment request to redistrict the lands from Direct Control Mixed Use (DCMU) to Regional Commercial (RC) District.
Landrex Inc. has advised that in the past year, since the redistricting of this property to DCMU, there has been no market interest in developing the site as a Mixed-Use development.
The legal description is Plan 942 3702, Lot C with municipal address 2-54211 Range Road 253 (referred to as the subject lands). The site is located at the north end of St. Albert, bounded by both St. Albert Trail on the west, Ebony Way on the east, and Coal Mine Road to the south. The site is 5.18 hectares (12.8 acres) in size. There is a Public Utility Lot running along Coal Mine Road, adjacent to the subject parcel. This piece of land is legally described as Lot 1PUL, Plan 942 3702, which contains utility services.
The subject lands fall within an existing City of St. Albert/Sturgeon County Intermunicipal Development Plan (IDP). The IDP was repealed by Sturgeon County through Bylaw 1220/10. As the IDP is not recognized by Sturgeon County, the City of St. Albert applies the IDP as a policy guideline and will amend the IDP as required. This amendment application is consistent with the existing Commercial Corridor policy direction.
BYLAW 33/2019 MDP AMENDMENT
The applicant is requesting an amendment to the Municipal Development Plan’s Future Land Use Map. Currently a small portion of the subject lands are designated “Residential”, and this amendment would designate those lands as wholly “Commercial”. This amendment will align with the local road network, which by amending to Commercial will reflect similar development pattern as found to the west and north of the subject lands. Please refer to the attached MDP Map with Area of Change.
The policy direction within the MDP is consistent with the amendment application, as it would ensure that the Commercial Areas along St. Albert Trail will continue to expand and grow.
Section 3.0 - Growth Management and Urban Form: To develop a controlled, managed growth strategy that meets future needs, is environmentally sound and preserves the unique character of St. Albert.
• Commercial Areas: The St. Albert Commercial Corridor will continue to be built out and expanded. Another commercial area to the west will include a regional shopping centre. Local commercial needs will be met by the commercial centres or retail and service uses incorporated into urban village centres and neighbourhood activity centres.
Section 7.0 - Commercial Development: To provide for appropriate growth of the commercial sector by maintain planning commercial and urban village centre areas throughout the community.
• St. Albert Road Commercial Corridor: Commercial Corridor (CC) land use districting shall be limited in the Land Use Bylaw to St. Albert Trail
BYLAW 32/2019 AREA STRUCTURE PLAN AMENDMENT
The proposed amendment is to change from Mixed-Use Commercial with Residential designation to Commercial designation.
Amendments to the Erin Ridge North ASP can only occur after approval of the MDP amendment.
Phase 1 of the Erin Ridge North ASP was approved in 2009, under the Capital Region Board (CRB) regulations, prior to the creation of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB). The existing application conforms with the previously approved density range of the CRB.
The proposed amendment will result in land use changes, as additional commercial floor area is anticipated and planned for within the ASP. As the City of St. Albert does not assign dwelling units for commercial designations, the Development Statistics table will identify a decrease in overall housing units and density. However, it should be noted that within the Regional Commercial Land Use District, “dwellings above a ground floor commercial use” is a discretionary use. As per the supportive technical documents, it is anticipated that the proposed changes will result in a similar level of development intensity.
Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB) Referral
Processing of the ASP amendment application requires a referral to the EMRB according to Section 4.2 (g) and (j) of the EMRB’s Regional Evaluation Framework (REF) 2.0 document:
(g) The proposed statutory plan amendment results in a decrease of the planned density of the statutory plan area.
• The proposed statutory plan amendment is from 35 dwelling units per net residential hectare to 32 dwelling units per net residential hectare, which is a decrease of three (3) dwelling units per net residential hectare for the statutory plan for Erin Ridge North Phase 1. This is because the proposed amendment reduced the number of projected dwelling units by 120 units and the residential land area by 0.8 hectares.
• Based upon the REF Toolkit requirement, previously approved plans must meet the CRB density range, while still demonstrating compliance to the existing EMRGP policies.
o The amended density falls within the previous 30-45 du/ha range.
o The amendment supports the EMRGP’s Objective 1.2 and Policy 1.2.6 as this designation will enable growth of St. Albert’s Local Employment Areas.
(j) The plan area of the proposed amendment to the statutory plan includes a Park and Ride or Planned LRT line or the boundaries of the proposed amendment to the statutory plan are within 0.8 km of a Park and Ride or Planned LRT line as identified on Schedule 10B: Transportation Systems ‐ Regional Transit and Trails to 2044 in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Growth Plan.
• The amendment area is within the LRT Corridor 0.8 km buffer. Please refer the attachment entitled: Transit Buffer Map.
• The ASP provides development direction to ensure a pedestrian friendly environment and effective connections for all modes of transportation.
The application must be referred to the EMRB after Council’s first reading of Bylaw 32/2019 and before third reading. As such, the application will be circulated to EMRB after first reading, and before the public hearing, second reading, and third reading. EMRB’s review of the application, including the appeal period, will require approximately 12 weeks.
BYLAW 34/2019 LUB AMENDMENT
The proposed amendment change is from Direct Control Mixed Use (DCMU) to Regional Commercial (RC) District. The Regional Commercial District allows for a wider range of commercial uses, compared to the current DCMU District.
The purpose of the Regional Commercial Land Use District is to:
a) Provide an area with regional roadway access for the sale of the widest variety of goods and services to the community and to the surrounding region.
b) Establish a high-quality commercial district accommodating a range of uses designed to serve the community as well as a larger trade area.
c) Ensure developments are designed to respect a regional commercial context while providing a safe, pleasant and pedestrian-friendly environment.
d) Ensure development is effectively connected to surrounding developments for all means of transportation.
The RC District is comparable to the DCMU district, as it contains detailed site design standards for the design, character and appearance of buildings, landscaping, and traffic circulation for both vehicles and pedestrian. The RC District has expanded commercial uses, which are of interest to the applicant (see Attachment 10 DCMU/RC Comparison of Uses)
Amendments to the Land Use Bylaw can only occur after approval of the Erin Ridge North ASP amendment.
FISCAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
A Fiscal Impact Assessment (FIA) was completed for the subject lands, regarding the proposed amendments. The FIA compared the revenue and expenditure implications of the subject lands as a mixed-use development, to a commercial development. The net difference, with capital reinvestment accounted for, is a marginal positive return by developing the lands as commercial. The findings indicated that the assessed value of the proposed commercial development will, overall, be less than the mixed-use scenario. The positive net difference is mainly attributed to the fact that the costs to the City of St. Albert, a combination of replacement, life cycle and operating costs, are lower for the commercial development scenario.
Please refer to FIA Summary Table 7, October 2019.
TRAFFIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT
The applicant has provided, within their application package, an update to the 2014 Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA). This update indicates that there will be a small increase in traffic from the 2014 assessment. An update was not made when the site was redistricted from Corridor Commercial District to Direct Control Mixed Use District in 2016.
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS OR ENGAGEMENT
A public consultation meeting was held by the applicant on September 11, 2019. Prior to the public consultation meeting, the applicant sent a letter to residents within a 100 m radius, and advertised in the St. Albert Gazette newspaper, to advise the public of the proposed amendments. Based on the sign-in sheet, 21 members of the public attended. A transcript of the public consultation meeting, prepared by a Court Reporter, is attached as the Court Reporter Transcript.
Once the application was received, the Planning department circulated the application for comments to nearby landowners, within a 100 m radius, all attendees of the open house who provided mailing addresses, and both internal departments and external agencies. These responses are provided in the attached Circulation Responses document.
The concerns received from the public were:
• Traffic and the safety issues caused by increased vehicle volumes through the Erin Ridge neighbourhood, especially through Erin Ridge Drive and Ebony Way;
• Concern about how walkable and pedestrian friendly the development will be, including ideas regarding greenspace buffers;
• Concerns regarding the potential impact to home values; and,
• Concerns regarding a lack of information about the actual development that will occur on the subject property.
Since the public meeting, the applicant has changed their application, and is proceeding with redistricting the subject lands to Regional Commercial (RC) instead of Corridor Commercial (CC). The Regional Commercial District has additional regulations to enable a walkable development and on-site design/architectural standards to ensure a higher quality-built environment. The Regional Commercial district provides additional regulations to address many of the concerns raised by the public, as compared to the Corridor Commercial district.
IMPLICATIONS OF RECOMMENDATIONS
The Regional Commercial (RC) District would be best suited to a development along side an LRT line. The RC District contains both site and building design standards that are more detailed than that of the DCMU District. This would align with the Public’s desire for any future development to be walkable with a quality built environment, while ensuring the Developer’s goals to enable a wider range of commercial options.
Financial:
There are off-site levies owing on the subject lands. Off-site levies are collectible at time of subdivision, and/or development permit application.
Legal / Risk:
None at this time.
Program or Service:
None at this time.
Organizational:
None at this time.
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED
Alternative 1: That Council deny First Readings of the proposed amending Bylaws.
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Report Date: December 16, 2019
Author(s): Suzanne Bennett, Planner
Committee/Department: Infrastructure & Development Services
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer: Kerry Hilts
Chief Administrative Officer: Kevin Scoble