The Town of Olds is forging ahead with its plans to redevelop the community’s "uptowne" area despite being turned down for a provincial program that would help finance the project. Alberta Municipal Affairs informed the town on Feb.
The Town of Olds is forging ahead with its plans to redevelop the community’s "uptowne" area despite being turned down for a provincial program that would help finance the project.
Alberta Municipal Affairs informed the town on Feb. 4 that its request to be approved for a community revitalization levy (CRL) was denied.
Here’s how a CRL works: When a new development or public improvement project is carried out in a certain area, such projects can increase the value of the surrounding properties and can even lead to new or renovated buildings or developments in the same area.
The increased property values and new investment in an area sometimes generate increased tax revenues from that area and the CRL allows a municipality to use these increases in taxes to pay off the debt accumulated in carrying out the development or public improvement projects.
In Olds, the CRL would allow the town to use increased tax revenues generated from improvements to the uptowne area to pay for the cost of those improvements.
Jerry Ward, a spokesman for municipal affairs, said the town’s application for a CRL was turned down because the province is reviewing the program to assess its "impact on the provincial education tax requisition."
While the review is underway, the province is not accepting any proposals for new CRL areas, he said.
Larry Wright, the town’s strategy and technology officer, addressed the denial of Olds’ request for a CRL at the Uptowne Olds committee meeting on Feb. 12.
He told the committee the town had received a "rather disappointing correspondence from the province" but that wasn’t going to hold up any of the town’s plans for the uptowne redevelopment plan.
"We’re not going to let that stand in our way," he told the committee. "We’re continuing on with our process involving a base plan."
Mayor Judy Dahl, who was also at the meeting, told the committee she was drafting a letter in response to municipal affairs’ denial of the request and Wright said such a letter may help the town’s position.
"I think through the good graces of our mayor and political representation, I think it will all turn out OK," he said.
Leon Durand, the committee’s chair, asked Wright how the denial of the CRL request might affect the town’s immediate plans to improve the downtown area.
"How will that impact what we’re doing this summer?" he said.
Wright responded that the town is still preparing the details of the downtown improvement project.
"The tech teams are putting together the package right now and they’re going through a costing exercise, specifically the streetlights."
He added, however, that the denial of the town’s CRL application could affect the timing of certain redevelopment projects since the town needs to make decisions soon on what projects will go to tender in 2014.
"It may impact how decisions are made to a certain level this year," Wright said.
Dahl also raised the question of why other communities such as Cochrane have recently received approvals for CRLs.
Ward said Cochrane’s application for a CRL was approved early last year before the review of the program began and a pending decision on a request from Edmonton is still in the works because the CRL request was submitted before the review began.
In an interview following the meeting, Wright said the CRL would only apply to above ground improvement projects such as enhancing the downtown area’s streetscape and the town’s plans to upgrade water and sewage infrastructure in the core will still go ahead using other sources of funding.
He added alternative funding programs such as grants are options to pay for the uptowne redevelopment plan.
The Uptowne Olds Redevelopment Plan, which was given third reading last month, is meant to serve as a framework for future development in a 102.5-hectare area extending from north of Highway 27 to south of 54 Street and including the commercial area west of the rail tracks.
According to the plan, the "vision for the redevelopment of Uptowne Olds is an attractive and functional commercial area with opportunities for mixed use development."
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