Council meets on Monday. On the agenda this week:

Delegations
Bear Creek Dam
Downtown Parking
Germain Park Site
CMHA Property
Rising Above
Maskwa Medical Facility Loan

delegations

At every Council meeting, members of the public are able to come in to raise a topic of interest with Council. This week, the following delegations will be coming:

The Golden Age Centre asking for support to expand their facility
The Chariot Festival thanking the City for its support during its inaugural year and asking for help securing longer routes next year
A resident asking for road upgrades to 99 St south of TWP 670 and RR54 north of TWP 670
The Salvation Army making a request for $350,000 to support the purchase of a new building to expand its food bank and community services

Bear creek dam engagement

Within the next 30 years, the Bear Creek Dam is likely to require reconstruction. Because of the major investment this will represent, it is time to start planning ahead. Later this year, a Request For Proposals (RFP) will be issued to hire someone to flesh out potential options for the long-term vision of this structure. Prior to writing that RFP, Administration hopes to get Council direction on its public engagement strategy.

Administration is proposing this timeline:

Taken from this presentation in the Agenda Package.

Throughout the engagement process, a number of strategies are proposed including news releases, use of the City’s online engagement platform, direct letters to stakeholder groups, social media posts, and paid advertising.

In addition to reaching out to the general public, Administration also plans to reach out to these stakeholder groups:

The reservoir is a much loved feature of our community that will also be incurring large expenses in the future. Therefore, I’m glad to see proactive planning being done in consultation with the community. In general, I support the proposals coming to Council on Monday.

However, I don’t know about the timeline of Council making a decision next September. That will be weeks before the next municipal election. I’m sure the dam will be a subject that gets public discussion through the campaign, with new Councillors forming strong opinions on it. Since this is very long-term work without immediate urgency, I do not see the point of ramming a decision through just before the election. The next Council should make the final decision on what steps to pursue next.

That being said: I do support undertaking strong public engagement and fleshing out potential options so that the next Council can be well setup to plan for the future of the dam structure.

downtown parking lot lease

The City owns a 55 stall parking lot east of 214 Place. This lot is designated as public parking with a 3-hour limit: it is meant for people with errands downtown to park short term, not for people working downtown to park all day. However, there are downtown workers who occupy spaces throughout the day by shuffling with one-another during breaks. This has led to frustration for some businesses who rely on customers and clients being able to park nearby.

The owners of 214 Place have asked to lease this parking lot so they can ensure that it is serving the building’s customers and staff well. It is proposed that Council remove the designation of this property as public parking, advertise that it is a leasing opportunity so other interested parties can have an opportunity to compete for the lease, and negotiate a lease agreement with whatever party can make the best offer.

I need to understand better what (if any) financial compensation the City would receive from this arrangement. If there is fair compensation, I can potentially support leasing out the lot. I would like to see this parking lot managed better to preserve customer parking, and leasing it out may provide opportunity to do so. That being said: I’m not convinced it is the best path forward. I’d also like to know what options exist for the City to enforce only allowing people to be in the parking lot for 3 hours per day, rather than allowing them to remain in the lot all day as long as they move spots.

York Hotel and Germain park sites

Back in 2017, Council decided to sell the former York Hotel and Germain Park sites with the agreement that they would be fully developed. However, the buyer terminated the project after constructing just one building, the Toremide Development. As a result, the City retained ownership of the remaining property.

It is proposed that Council initiate a competitive process to sell these properties for development. Potential criteria may be:

Purchase Price (15%)
Commitment to Development (commencement and completion timelines)(25%)
Amount of residential development (square footage, number of units, number of bedrooms, etc) (40%)
Experience of applicant (20%)

Right now, these properties are not generating tax revenue nor contributing to life or business in the downtown. I would love to see them get developed. Therefore, I do support offering them up for sale. In principal, the criteria presented make sense to me. However: I would love to see more emphasis be put on purchase price (25% would be a more comfortable number for me). I also need to know more about what tools will be available to the City if construction does not happen in a timely manner.

property transfer to canadian mental health association

The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) operates many important programs in our community. The biggest local CMHA program is Willow Place downtown. It consists of 57 studio apartments for clients who have mental wellness challenges, require social supports, and qualify for affordable housing but can pay rent and live independently. This has been a very successful housing program.

CMHA is hoping to expand Willow Place with a new 55 unit building. The cost for construction is estimated to be $12-14 million. To get financing, they need enough equity to qualify for a loan. To help with this, it is proposed that Council authorize giving CMHA ownership of City House.

City House is a duplex in Patterson with two upper floor two-bedroom units and one basement bachelor suite. CMHA has been leasing this building since 2009. It is assessed at $391,100.

I’m likely to support this property transfer. It is a way for the City to support CMHA’s new build without spending any actual cash. In fact, disposing of this property would simplify City operations.

rising above re-zoning request

Rising Above provides sober, supportive housing for people overcoming addiction challenges. Currently, it operates out of the old Young Offenders centre and several houses throughout the community. Rising Above is working on consolidating and expanding its operations by constructing a new building next to its main building.

There is a request for Council to re-zone the land to a new Direct Control District (DC). Direct Control districts are one-off zones that have unique rules created for the development in question.

I look forward to learning more about this request. I’m not fundamentally opposed to this re-zoning. However, I need to learn more about why special treatment for a DC zone is needed in this case. I also have some concerns about the broad latitude given to the Development Officer to set rules for this District.

Maskwa Medical facility loan

The Maskwa Medical Facility is an exciting project. It is a non-profit initiative that will offer a number of services, including a clinic for rapid diagnosis and treatment planning for medical conditions and a teaching clinic to train doctors here in Grande Prairie. Both in terms of Economic Development and enhancing local healthcare, it will bring big benefits to our community.

My understanding is that this project has been pledged financial support from the province. Additionally, a fundraising campaign is underway. However, this funding will take time. The project is hoping to break ground right away so it can be open sooner, not be subject to more construction cost inflation, and get going while it has provincial support. To enable groundbreaking soon, the City (and County and MD of Greenview) are being asked for a loan for a $3.5 million, 3 year, interest free loan. Since investment income is projected to be higher than debt interest, it is recommended that if Council makes this loan, Council do so through borrowing rather than by drawing from reserves.

I need to learn more about what interest rates the City expects to pay on its loan and what securities will be in place to be sure the City will get its money back. That being said, in principal, I think this is a reasonable ask of the City.

That’s what is on our agenda this week. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

You can comment below. Or, you can contact me at dbressey@cityofgp.com or 780-402-4166. I'm happy to talk online or over the phone. I'm also always willing to setup a time to meet for coffee.

We also always have great conversation in the GP Round Table group on Facebook.

After Council meeting, you will be able to find highlights posted by the City here.

Thanks for reading!

-Dylan

Coming Up: Aug 26