The City of St. Albert is facing a showdown from residents of the Akinsdale neighbourhood who are opposed to the Habitat for Humanity affordable housing development slated to be built at 70 Arlington Drive.
Currently, the location on Arlington Drive is an empty field owned by the Protestant School Board, but they are looking to sell the land instead of building on it themselves. Habitat for Humanity stepped in to make a bid for the land to build a housing development.
Residents are furious.
In the most recent issue of MacEwan University's newspaper, Intercamp, one Akinsdale resident was quoted as saying the affordable housing "It’ll be like dropping a ghetto into the middle of town."
The writer of the Intercamp article has a different view.
“It’s about time,” I thought to myself. “Plenty of people can’t afford to live here. It’d certainly help a lot of people out,” said Vance Ternowski.
Unlike many of St. Albert's affluent citizen, Ternowski is not one of them. He struggled to afford a meager townhouse, and is now headed to the cheaper Southside of Edmonton.
"It's as though Edmonton is St. Albert's affordable housing," said Kacie Duncan who lives down the street from 70 Arlington Drive. "Residents act like they want to keep housing prices high to keep poorer people out."
Akinsdale
The Akinsdale neighbourhood was established in 1973. There are nearly 1700 occupied dwellings and various amenities like the Akinsdale and Kinex arenas. In addition to the sports facilities, Appleyard Square offers a convenience store, pub, salon, and pizza place. For a larger shopping experience, the Akinsdale neighbourhood borders the Gateway Village shopping centre.
Akinsdale has parks dotted throughout. The largest park being the one located behind Elmer S. Gish elementary School. This park hosts soccer field, a baseball diamond, and outdoor rink, and a playground.
This is the problem for residents of Akinsdale- especially the residents on Arlington Drive. In order for the affordable housing to be built, a large section of green space needs to be destroyed.
During summer, kids, adults, and family pets can be seen tearing around the field. Some use it for fun, other use it for organized games. All but the playground on the north end of the park will disappear.
On the snootier side of the matter, residents whose houses back onto the park claim the housing prices will decrease, while traffic and crime will increase. This is always a possibility, but not a guarantee.
The reality of the matter is that there's a giant plot of land in the middle of a neighbourhood that the Protestant School Board is paying annual taxes on, and they want to get rid of it. An organization is willing to buy the land and put it to good use.
But many of the people living in Akinsdale fear change, and they fear coming into their neighbourghood potentially asking for it.
Someone is going to lose this battle. And from the looks of it, the City of St. Albert and Habitat for Humanity are going to get their wish, while the residents may feel they'll be getting their worst nightmare.
Picture one courtesy of staycanada.ca
Picture two courtesy of premieresuites.com
