St. Albertans will soon have the opportunity to provide feedback on a host of potential changes to the city's Land-Use Bylaw (LUB), which dictates what kind of development can take place throughout the city.
City staff, who have been working for over a year on numerous changes to the LUB, will host a public open house on Nov. 7 at Progress Hall, which is just outside the Arden Theatre in St. Albert Place.
The open house is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and city spokesperson Pamela Osborne said attendees will get the chance to learn about and provide feedback on potential LUB amendments that will affect things like housing diversity, parking, mixed-use development, and more.
“We will also have information on proposed changes to Downtown, and the city’s future employment areas,” Osborne said. “Presentation boards will be on display, with City staff and project consultants from ISL Engineering on hand to answer questions.”
“The goals of the Land Use Bylaw update are to fulfil the vision set by the Municipal Development Plan (called) Flourish, to create a more user-friendly document, and to update and introduce provisions that are reflective of today’s development trends and community needs.”
In July the Gazette reported on a presentation administration gave to council about some of the LUB changes that staff have drafted, such as the creation of multiple new land use districts.
The new districts, council heard, included a Conservation Park district, an Industrial district, a Mixed-Use Level 1 district, a Mixed-Use Transit Oriented Development district, and more.
The Conservation Park district, for example, would “provide for the protection and stewardship of natural areas and environmentally sensitive lands and to preserve ecological integrity and biodiversity,” a report to council from July explains.
The Mixed-Use Transit Oriented Development district, the report says, would be ideally placed around future LRT stations.
Other potential changes to the LUB council heard from administration's presentation in July include reduced minimum parking spaces for apartment buildings, increased allowable building heights in all commercial districts, and the renaming of the Urban Reserve land-use district to “Future Urban Development” in order to reduce confusion about what the classification is used for.
Osborne said the Nov. open house will operate in a drop-in format, meaning those interested in providing feedback and learning about the changes being proposed can arrive anytime within the three-hour time frame.
For those unable to attend, Osborne said the city will also publish an online survey on the 'Cultivate the Conversation' platform on Oct. 31.
The survey will be open to the public until Nov. 19, and “will be a productive tool that results in valuable feedback from our stakeholders,” Osborne said.
Once this round of public engagement is complete, administration will finalize a draft of all the LUB changes and council will hold a public hearing before voting.
The public hearing is expected to take place early next year.
