City joins Strong Towns initiative at cost of $212,000

By COLLIN GALLANT on October 18, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

The city will spend $212,000 from council’s contingency fund to join “Strong Towns,” an advocacy and consultancy group that stresses financial sustainability of municipal budgets by focusing on planning decisions.

Planning officials say the analytic and evaluation provided by the non-profit group will build on and support changes.

It could also fulfil a campaign promise of Mayor Linnsie Clark, who argues cost to existing taxpayers and long-term infrastructure maintenance should have greater weight when new suburban developments are considered.

However, one year after the 2021 election, Clark questioned administrators this summer why such analysis wasn’t included in new community proposals that arrived at council.

“This is absolutely a move to that,” said Clark following Monday’s meeting, where council unanimously approved the new spending from its contingency fund.

“It’s a really good fit, and it started as a look at long-term community viability in planning.”

“Strong towns” calls itself an “action lab” where member municipalities exchange ideas but also are afforded training, modelling, case studies and workshops to consider planning decisions, metrics for evaluation and other planning promotion.

It stresses non-vehicular transportation, ground-level economic development and generally higher density development as a cost savings model.

Its statement of principals calls the “American Post War Suburban experiment” a mistake.

As well, it promotes removing parking requirements to help increase higher density development, something Edmonton did this year.

Clark says the city is free to set its own agenda, but many of the principles are transferable to what council already approved in strategic priority documents earlier this year.

“When you look at our strategic plan and how we’ll address our long-term infrastructure liabilities, you need to make sure the community is built in a way and your decisions are done in a way that those liabilities are well understood, and you’re building in a way that ensures you have long-term fiscal viability,”she said.

Council members touted the US-based community engagement models, and felt it would be a positive to expand some principles already in use.

“It is a departure from what we’ve done in the past, but I’m supportive,” said Coun. Robert Dumanowski.

Adoption throughout city departments would create a more “holistic” planning system, said Coun. Allison Knodel.

Strong Town members in Alberta include Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Red Deer and ForMcMurray, among others.

Already the city considers tax assessment per hectare analysis that was pioneered by Strong Towns, said planner manager Robert Sissons

“We have the staff and to move this across departments is a terrific opportunity,” he said. “It’s about moving forward in a sustainable manner.”

The 2019 update to the municipal development plan stressed the city should consider conglomerated services, like rec centres, parks and commercial nodes, in regional hubs, rather than inlaid in each smaller community.

It also stressed infill redevelopment in mature communities and placing greater hurdles in front of suburban proposals as a way to address a growing need to replace existing infrastructure while avoiding having to also pay for new roads, sewers and drains to outlaying communities.

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