By Thia James

City’s road map calls for riverbank revitalization

May 21, 2015 | 8:12 AM

Prince Albert’s long-term vision includes a revitalized riverbank, and city officials have sketched out what that could include.

The Official Community Plan has been described as Prince Albert’s “road map” for the future and covers topics such as land use, infrastructure, the environment and the flood plain. Within this guide, is a section contains a number of suggested changes aimed at improving the riverfront park and trail system, which is described as one of the city’s greatest assets.

“However it is underused and often seen as an unsafe place. There is noticeable drug use and other illegal activities occurring in the park, particularly after business hours,” the document states.

The plan acknowledges that the park system and the surrounding neighbourhoods sit within the flood plain (both a one-in-100 year and a one-in-500 year flood plain). To this end, the plan recommends constructing a dike on the riverbank, which would lead to opportunities to create a new riverfront pathway on top of the dike.

Mayor Greg Dionne said the City already has a weir on the river – weirs are barriers designed to alter the water flow – but it is damaged. He is an advocate for building the weir up.

SIGA

SIGA and Northern Lights Casino main sponsors of the 31st PAGC Fine Arts Festival

10h ago

Workplace incident

City of Prince Albert pleads guilty to workplace safety violation, handed fines

12h ago

Lighting it up

P.A.'s Zablocki leads Regina to victory on Day 4 at Esso Cup

Apr 24, 2024

As for the potential construction of a dike, Dionne said the City has asked for a cost.

“We have to put that in our priority list. As you know, we have lots of priorities when it comes to infrastructure. But we have the Pehonan Parkway, which may be able to get us such funding for a dike,” he said. The parkway is a network of riverfront greenspaces.

“So, it’s worth looking into and that’s what we’re doing at this point. We’re just researching our options.”

Dionne too, believes the river is one of the city’s biggest assets, but unlike other cities, there aren’t people out on it waterskiing or snow jetting. He said there’s a myth that Prince Albert’s stretch of the North Saskatchewan River is dangerous.

He said he supports doing something with the river.

As for building new developments within the flood plain, he pointed to one project currently under development under River Street, where the first floor will be used for parking. This satisfies the floor-elevation requirement in the flood plain policy.

“Just because it’s in the flood plain, doesn’t mean you can’t build. What it means, you just have to build to criteria to protect the building if it does flood,” Dionne said.

The riverbank recommendations in the Official Community Plan extend beyond the flood plain impacts, however.

Additionally, the plan recommends providing more “eyes on the street,” as well as creating commercial, recreational and cultural destinations along the riverfront to encourage more people to encourage the park system.

It also recommends allowing mixed-use developments such as restaurants, pubs and coffee shops with residences on the upper levels, as well as encouraging public and cultural facilities to be located along the riverfront and ensuring future high-rise building developments are located three to four blocks back from the riverfront.

The City is in talks with developers about the vacant riverfront lots currently available. Dionne said they’ve consolidated empty land beside the National Hotel, with land owned by a private owner. Both the City and the landowner have been trying to package the land to see if the plot can attract development.

“Everyone wants to be on the river, so it is some of the prime real estate,” Dionne said.

Interest in the riverfront land has been low, because, as Dionne admitted, the City hasn’t been promoting it.

“We’ve been looking at maybe moving an old building here or something there. But that’s really not going to draw people to the riverbank,” he said.

For Dionne, the riverbank should be a seat of activity. He credits Saskatoon for its “incredible” riverbank development, which, he said is well used by the public on the weekends. This is what the City is looking at, he said.

The president of the Prince Albert Historical Society thinks it’s great that the City has included riverbank revitalization as a priority in the Official Community Plan.

“We need to develop our riverbank, we need to make it a happening place, we need to bring it back to what it was, where people gathered and where people, you know, were there and used it.”

He said whatever plan the City has, it’s great, as long as it is developed and fits in with the history of the area.

“We’re not opposed to that. It’s just we’d like to know where we fit in to this,” Ogrodnick said.

However, he said the historical society is concerned about lack of a response to the suggestions it made to council on more than one occasion regarding the Nesbit Church and the Block House. He said both are deteriorating in Kinsmen Park “at an alarming rate.”

The historical society has asked that the two buildings be moved to their original locations along the riverbank, restored and preserved. But Ogrodnick said the City and the Pehonan Parkway’s board have yet to respond to that request.

“What we feel is that we deserve a response, one way or another, whether they agree or disagree with us,” he said.

It was a part of the historical society’s vision for a revitalized riverbank that it presented to council.

The City held the first of two open houses for the Official Community Plan at City Hall last Thursday. A second open house is planned for June 10.

paNOW will provide an update about the historical society’s request once one is available.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames