The City of Spruce Grove, the DownTown Business Association and their consultants have proposed an Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP) for our City Centre. This plan will perhaps go to City Council on April 23 for the 1st of three readings required to incorporate the proposed plan into the City’s overall Land Use Planning. A couple of Open Houses have been held by the consultants with the wider community, but there has not been any significant dialogue with the residents or individual business owners on the impacts of this plan becoming a reality. The City’s current plan is to have the required Public Hearing at Council in May, with all three readings passed. With this plan approved, a number of construction projects throughout the downtown will be started next spring and continue for a number of years. Roads, sidewalks, and underground pipes will be upgraded to handle the increased population and commercial requirements. In the meantime, developers will be looking for opportunities to increase their profits by purchasing properties for redevelopment at the lowest cost and building them up throughout the entire downtown core. Once this new plan is approved, it gives them permission to do just that. This is our best and last opportunity to influence what this plan allows developers to do, how and when. It is important we act now to ensure we minimize the negative impacts this redevelopment will have on our current way of life. Things to consider include:
1. Transforming an entire neighbourhood from predominantly Single Family Homes to
medium and high density, a proposed population increase from 1000 - 4000 residents.
2. Anticipated Impact on Property Values.
3. Anticipated Impact on Quality of Life.
4. Other anticipated impacts during transition due to construction, noise, dust, etc.. in an
already established, quiet neighbourhood.
5. If such a plan is to go ahead for the betterment of the greater community, should those
impacted in a negative way be compensated? Example: Offer to purchase properties at
previous market value before devaluation as a result of this plan.
Alternatives to the proposed plan that have not been discussed by the residents of the impacted
area include:
- A strategic plan as to how the desired increased density needed to meet the Capital Region's target can be achieved without negatively impacting the existing neighbourhood.
- Preservation and reconstruction of heritage buildings/sites.
- Consideration for the existing City Centre lifestyle and Social Sustainability.
- The cost and potential use of 2 city blocks to create a Big City image.
- Holding a town hall meeting like we did for Hamburger Hill (the hill behind the agrena which the city wanted to turn into a parking lot) to discuss the alternatives.
- What do we want Spruce Grove to look like when it is 150 years old?
- If you are interested in being included in future emails/communication on these topics, please email sgrovec@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment