Page 42 - 03_April-2025

St. Albert Mayor
Cathy Heron
says there’s no such thing as an affordable home unless
these projects also come with job opportunities.
“Housing affordability is important, but it has to come
with places to work. The Cidex project will all be rentals,
so that will be affordable. Lakeview will diversify the tax
base and reduce the burden on the residential portion,
which will make it more affordable. Everything works
when you have a driver like Lakeview.”
Heron knows that the perception is that St. Albert
residents pay higher property taxes than anyone else in
the region. And that’s why it needs to enhance its com-
mercial and industrial base — to shift some of
that burden.
“I think there’s a perception that St. Albert is a high-
tax community,” she says. “I would say we’re a little bit
higher than the region. But the perception needs to be
changed — and this will help by pushing some of the tax
dollars onto the businesses and not the people.”
“Lakeview is very important for our future tax
assessment,” says Patricia Nicol, the manager for
investment attraction and growth for St. Albert Economic
Development. “We’re very heavy on the residential side,
up until now. We need to balance that out, so there’s a
better tax split between our commercial, industrial and
residential. It’s going to make St. Albert more attractive
for people to come here and work here, all of it.”
Itani says a developer can never “build in silos” and
that the attraction of this two-tower project is to be part
of a complete community.
42 EDify. APRIL.25
“We’re going to see more hubs develop
where people don’t have to commute half
an hour or 45 minutes to get to work,” she
says. “For a while, people were thinking
that you didn’t have to build businesses
next to housing because people are going
to work remotely. That worked for a short
period of time, and there are professions
where that’s really great. But there’s a lot
of professions where it doesn’t work. So,
how do we support people having a better
work-life balance? And I think it’s by
placing businesses and opportunities for
housing closer together, that’s for sure.”
Rohit donated 25.5 acres for a
community amenities campus that
will be located at the north end of
Cherot. So, the subdivision will be sand-
wiched between Lakeview and an area
designated for park space and recreation.
HERON AND NICOL
BELIEVE LAKEVIEW,
ALL IN, COULD BRING
$1-$1.5 BILLION IN
ECONOMIC BENEFIT
TO THE CITY.
And, while the goal is to create a
community where many residents could
walk or bike to work, the fact that
Lakeview is close to rail lines, the Anthony
Henday and Ray Gibbon Drive makes it
easy to access. The province plans to shift
Highway 2 from St. Albert Trail to Ray
Gibbon Drive in the future. And Villeneuve
Airport is close by.
Heron and Nicol believe Lakeview, all
in, could bring $1-$1.5 billion in economic
benefit to the city.
“We’ve been pushing staff this whole
term,” says Heron. “Faster, faster, faster,
we want this. There will be a little bit of
pride for this council to all stand there
with little shovels in the spring, when we
start the servicing.” ED.