For-profit projects could start springing up on public lands in Red Deer, says a concerned local group that believes citizens should have been consulted.
The Waskasoo Community Association sent a letter to the Advocate outlining concerns about changes to the definition of public service lands in the City of Red Deer’s proposed Zoning Bylaw.
Public Service land used to be reserved for recreation centres, nursing homes, and health facilities, but the new bylaw has since widened the definition to include assisted living apartments.
The association’s president, Brenda Garrett, said many such private-sector projects are geared to high-income seniors. They may include “concierge services to deliver groceries and arrange visits by a hairdresser or masseuse.”
There’s nothing wrong with this, “if you can afford it,” she added.
But Garrett questions whether these kinds of seniors’ complexes should be built on PS land rather than in residential zones with other apartment buildings.
She stressed public service land is generally sold at below-market prices because it’s supposed to be for projects that benefit the community at large.
Garrett is concerned that public consultation has now closed for the first phase of the new Zoning Bylaw. While changes to Public Service lands will mostly be dealt with in the second phase, definitions of what can be built on various zones of land is part of the first phase — and she believes citizens should have had a say.
David Girardin, major projects manager for the city, said new broader land-use definitions were included in material available to the public as part of the phase-one consultations. Although requests for citizen feedback did not point specifically to these definitions, the overall goal of the new Zoning Bylaw is to make land uses more flexible and to streamline processes, he added.
Girardin noted that most public land is owned by the city or other public bodies, which can use their discretion regarding the type of projects that can be developed there. For instance, if a developer was proposing a high-end assisted living project, the city could require that a certain number of suites be geared to lower to mid-income seniors.
He stressed few Public Service parcels are in private hands.
But one of the PS properties that’s owned by a private developer is the corner of the former River Glen School’s yard. The Waskasoo Community Association had previously objected to a four-storey seniors’ apartment building that was proposed for that corner. It was denied by council last year.
Garrett fears that municipalities or school boards will sell more PS land to private developers in future as their finances get tighter and provincial and federal grants become scarcer.
The Waskasoo Community Association intends to write to city council with concerns about the changes to these land use definitions. Garrett said this change was buried within the materials made available for public consultation and should have been more clearly presented.