A contentious land development plan in northeast Airdrie has received the green light to move forward from City council.
At a regular meeting Dec. 7, council approved third and final reading of a bylaw to adopt the East Points Community Area Structure Plan (CASP) – the land-use concept for a primarily industrial subdivision on the northeast outskirts of the city.
“It’s probably not perfect in some people’s eyes, certainly some people who are living over in that area,” Mayor Peter Brown said prior to the vote. “However, there hasn’t been a plan in my lifetime as mayor that we haven’t looked at amending, changing or adapting. I would say we put our best foot forward. We finally have an opportunity for our economic development team to market some [industrial] lands and sell our community, and get those jobs going.”
The East Points CASP will direct the development of a six-quarter parcel of land in northeast Airdrie. The area is located east of the Gateway and East Lake industrial parks and south of Croxford Estates, with Yankee Valley Estates bordering the parcel to the south.
Jamal Ramjohn, the City's team lead for Planning and Development, presented the CASP to council for ratification. He said the development would provide for more than 800 acres of non-residential land use.
“These non-residential lands are primarily industrial, accommodating [various degrees] of intensity,” he said. “More impactful uses, being heavy industrial, are located in the interior of the plan area, further from residential uses located along the periphery.”
According to Ramjohn, the CASP aligns with council’s goal of increasing the City’s non-residential tax base. He said the three phases of development will create roughly 6,000 jobs and, when construction is complete, will yield approximately $12 million in annual tax revenue.
Third reading passed 6-1, with Deputy Mayor Tina Petrow the only vote against. Petrow also voted in opposition of the first two readings when the bylaw came to council in September.
“I’m a firm believer in the concept of this plan. I just think in this rendition of it, we did lose sight of some of the residents’ concerns while we were trying to achieve council’s recommendations,” she said. “I understand plans change and get different iterations [so] I look forward to seeing what comes out of this and supporting it in the future.”
When the City held a public hearing about the CASP in September, residents of Yankee Valley Estates submitted several letters opposing the plans, arguing industrialization will create potential water contamination, property value decreases, increased noise and traffic, reductions of green space and a drop in residential land allocation.
After the meeting, Duane Ellingson, a resident of the acreage community, called the approval of the CASP a “sad day for the city of Airdrie.”
“Council has taken it upon themselves to move forward with a plan to turn Airdrie into a hardcore industrial city,” he said. “This is not just a blemish for the community we live in, it’s a blemish for the whole city. What they’re proposing is hardcore industrial development, which brings things like water pollution, air pollution, noise pollution, light pollution – the list goes on.”
Ellingson also claimed the public consultation for the CASP was insufficient after the item first went to council for a public hearing in January. He called changes made to the plan since then a “classic bait and switch.”
“They turned around and took all the compromises away with one stroke of the pen,” he said. “They felt they had everyone in the community where they wanted them, and then they put it in front of council with a completely different plan. Council did not listen to any concerns from any party at the public hearing, and, quite frankly…none of them were addressed.”
At the September public hearing, City planner Gail Gibeau said limited servicing means any development of the lands is unlikely to occur for many years. Now that the CASP is ratified, the development will progress to the Neighbourhood Structure Plan stage, where finer-level details will be provided.
Ellingson said he and other Yankee Valley Estates residents intend to continue opposing the plan.
“Quite frankly, the City planning department and council members should be ashamed of the way this project was handled,” he said.
Scott Strasser, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @scottstrasser19
