Lots to unpack in city’s proposed long-term development plan

By COLLIN GALLANT on September 15, 2020.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

In future, city planners would expand their concept of “complete neighbourhoods” to allow suburbs to come online with larger lots while focusing on housing and commercial redevelopment, if a new proposed long-term development plan is adopted next month.

It would also have implications for new recreation facilities, road and municipal utility spending, and servicing levels in new communities that planning officials say is needed to control costs in the face of lower growth projections until 2050.

“It recognizes that we’re in a different financial situation than we were 10 years ago,” said Robert Sissons, superintendent of planning policy.

“It also a recognition that for the most part, Medicine Hat is a smaller city,” for community planning purposes.

His office authored the current proposed update of the Municipal Development Plan that was last updated in 2012.

A new draft was introduced at city council last week and will be debated following a public hearing on Oct. 5. It’s available for viewing at shapeyourcity.medicinehat.ca.

The new version, according to Sissons, keys on five main areas discussed at public feedback sessions since the reworking process began in 2018.

It would also lay out more specific, shorter-term areas of focus to accomplish economic development, environmental stewardship, lowering the total cost of infrastructure replacement and new spending.

It also moves away from the concept of “complete neighbourhoods” – a concept in which a range of housing styles are mixed with workplaces and commercial properties – to a more sectoral approach.

In it, each of six sectors would be considered as units, with each requiring the array of services and property types.

The need to include smaller, more affordable lots in new communities has been a constant source of complaint in the development community since the 2012 plan was adopted and before.

Now, no set population density targets would be in place, though city council has made a priority of pushing development in existing communities since 2017.

The new plan could also lead to centralized recreation facilities within each sector, rather than on a community level. As well, clustered commercial nodes would suffice, rather than outlining “neighbourhood commercial” in individual subdivisions.

New subdivisions in outlaying areas could also see lower servicing levels, such as sidewalk requirements, but also new philosophy about completing build-outs in existing developments before green-lighting spending to further extend utility lines and roadways.

“We’re left with some legacy growth areas,” said Sissons. “This recognizes that we’re entering a low growth era … this is about better staging developments.”

Among the sectors are the north employment (Brier Park and Box Springs Business Park) and north residential (Crescent Heights and Ranchlands).

The city centre would include two proposed urban villages of the regional Hospital and Downtown riverfront district in the area of the Hill communities and River Flats.

The South Residential sector sits south of the Seven Persons Creek, where intensification is predicted along the Trans-Canada Way and Strachan Road corridors.

A west employment area would surround the light industrial area and Medicine Hat Regional Airport.

In the longer term, a “west residential sector” comprises lands along Holsom Road and Burnside.

Each would also see an “intensification” area of focus, either to promote multi-family housing, and higher density business development. In general, news development or redevelopment ideas from the private sector would be assessed in relation to like development and distance from highest-use developments on a spectrum to lowest-use areas, such as single-family housing.

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