By Thia James

West Hill Master Plan moving ahead without industrial option

Apr 16, 2013 | 6:19 AM

Prince Albert city council on Monday decided to leave the industrial option behind as it proceeds with the West Hill Master Plan (WHMP).

Last year, council had asked AECOM to draft a map outlining an industrial-based growth option for the yet-to-be developed portion of the West Hill area. The existing master plan already included a residential-based growth option, with room for some commercial developments. On April 8, the executive committee was presented with the new map with the industrial growth option.

But a heavily-industrial development option was met with some resistance on council Monday.

The expanding West Hill area is situated within Coun. Ted Zurakowski’s ward. And although he likes what he sees in most other areas of the West Hill Master Plan, he is not supportive of having industrial areas in all four corners of the city.

“I like the idea of the commercial land coming into the city. And even phasing in, to the west, light industrial.”

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“But this map, this specific map I’m looking at right now,” he said of the industrial growth concept map, “takes industrial land all the way down to that cemetery. And frankly, that’s too far north.”

He said that if council doesn’t make the changes to the industrial option now, it’ll be harder to make changes once the city is in the public process.

The city does plan to take the WHMP concepts to the public in an open house in May. Officials will be soliciting residents’ feedback.

And while Coun. Lee Atkinson saw the debate over the industrial option in the WHMP as relevant, he said it would be best to have it when it’s discussing the plan with the public.

“The reason to go out with the plan to the public is to get this input and dialogue going. And from that information, you glean whatever you need to glean to come up with a plan that everyone theoretically has had input to,” he said.
“So prejudging it, or prohibiting certain things taking place, you’re not actually going by the process.”

But Mayor Greg Dionne weighed in on the debate, saying it doesn’t make sense to have industrial areas in all four corners of the city.

“At some point, some area has to be residential,” he said. “And I don’t know where it’s written in the rules that cities are combined with industrial, commercial and residential in the same area. To me, I think that’s the downfall of some cities.”

As an example, he pointed to the residential areas that are close to chemical plants on Warman Road in Saskatoon.

He said the plants are almost on the residents’ doorsteps. “I don’t want to see a community built like that.”

However, Dionne supports concentrating industrial areas around the site of a potential second bridge in Prince Albert.

“That will be a main corridor coming into, around our city. So when you talk about light and heavy – especially heavy – industrial, you don’t want it in the city anyway, you want it farther away, and you want to have the roads and the infrastructure available, and that will be built in that new design,” he said after the meeting.

And Zurakowski said after the meeting that more industrial land is needed in Prince Albert, but the specific problem with this proposal was that the industrial area “backs right up into residential.”

“And with the residential growth patterns we’re seeing, in the last couple of years in that area, it’s not going to be a good fit.”

The WHMP is a guideline for the development of the West Hill region in Prince Albert. It was first approved by city council more than a decade ago.

Council approves $189 base tax increase, 2013 budget

City council has approved the 2013 budget and a $189 base tax increase, but not before defeating a motion to remove the $60 that exists in the base tax and into the mill rate.

The $60 is a part of the $87 base tax, as it existed before Monday evening’s vote. Part of the base tax – $27 – is the levy for the Pineview Terrace Lodge. Council approved adding another $189 to the base tax, which is to be targeted towards the city’s paving program.

The base tax for every residential household will be $276.

But Atkinson made a last-minute proposal to move the $60 that’s not targeted towards any specific program back into the mill rate. The mill rate is essentially a tax per dollar of assessed property value.

“It would be a small increment on the mill rate, and I think it would be more equitable across the board. And because these funds are not dedicated to any particular purpose, it was originally created and half of it, almost half of that fund, initially was used to balance the general fund budget.”

His proposed amendment to the general fund budget was defeated in a vote.

Council then voted to accept all of the recommendations from director of financial services Joe Day, including the approval of the 2013 budget.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames