New plans are in the works as to what the southwest corner of Lloydminster could look like.
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The Southwest Area Structure Plan (SW ASP) will help guide development.
“The intent is to inform the committee that work is commencing and to provide the next steps, an overview on the next steps,” said Terry Burton, director of planning and engineering.
An area structure plan (ASP) is a high-level framework which guides future development on undeveloped lands. The document must describe the proposed sequence of development, the general location of land use for the area, the proposed population density of the area, the general location of major transportation routes and public utilities, and anything else required by council.
ASPs are required by the Government of Alberta to be created and in place.
“We’re taking it on ourselves to capture the city as a whole. We completed the northeast ASP back in 2022, our intent is to complete a full sweep of the whole city of Lloydminster and those four quadrants,” said Burton. “This one was being identified as being the next highly promising development.”
While this document will impact development in the area, it isn’t a finely detailed plan.
“The idea is not to direct things to happen, but it’s to paint the picture as to how it could happen,” said Burton.
Landowners and developers will be consulted when crafting this plan.
“The city taking the lead doesn’t mean we aren’t putting into consultation with the landowners and other developers that are in the area to make sure whatever is put in the ASP from a land designation or density requirement or those kinds of things, fits the needs of them as developers,” said Don Stang, executive manager of operations.
The structure plan must be approved by council.
“An area structure plan has to be approved by council. An ASP being required negates anything else happening without that being in place,” said Burton.
“The neighbourhood structure plan, which gets into more and more details of development, the actual development itself, we still have to have that overarching area structure plan created before any development can happen.”
He says developers would be aware of this process taking place and landowners would be part of the process of creating the ASP.
Coun. Jim Taylor had some hesitations about the plan.
“How much detail is going to be in this that could be potentially affected by any current development, or are we going to have to go back and do it again? Just, $125,000 to go towards a plan that could potentially change,” he said.
Burton says the intent is to have it not change a lot once it’s completed.
“I don’t want to stop development, but I also don’t want to come back again and go ‘what we did didn’t make sense, we’re going to have to change it again,’” said Taylor. “Things are happening fast, and in two year’s time, we have may a completely different plan.”
Through discussions with the landowners and developers in the area, the city will get a good idea of what development may look like in the future.
“We’ll take into consideration all types of developments that may be occurring, and like Terry said, working closely with developers in the area. They’ll know what they want to bring on in the future,” said Stang.
The area was identified through a study as a location for future development.
“We did complete a growth study in 2020 which shows this corner of the city being our next area for development,” said Dion Pollard, city manager.
The SW ASP will take place in four separate phases, beginning with data gathering and a preliminary draft of the land use concept. Public engagement and refinement will follow before the document is finalized and seeks approval.
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