Green Environment Strategy Project

January 17, 2024 

Thank you to all who took the time to respond to the Green Environment Strategy's online engagement tools and participated in virtual meetings to share your feedback.

The Green Environment Strategy is the first of 10 long-range strategies to be developed and shifts the way we approach and prioritize long-range planning. These long-range strategies will guide the actions and direction of the City of St. Albert over the next 10 years and progress towards achieving the vision set out in the City’s Municipal Development Plan.

-Green Environment Project Team

The City of St. Albert recently approved Flourish: Growing to 100K, our Municipal Development Plan (MDP). This comprehensive, city-wide plan will guide the future growth of our city over the next 30 years. The MDP envisions a future population of 100,000, and up to 13,000 new jobs over the coming decades. Green Environment is one of the nine sections within Flourish. Taking care of our environment is critical to the success and growth of our city. With the MDP as our guide, we will start to build long-range strategies that align with the goals of the plan.

Green Environment

Goal: St. Albert values and protects the natural environment, conserving and enhancing its features and functions for the well-being of our community and our planet. The natural environment is fundamental to St. Albert’s physical character and is closely linked to quality of life and overall community well-being. Nature provides the essentials of life, and its value is multi-faceted, including ecological, economical, recreation, historical, spiritual, medicinal, cultural, and social dimensions. The protection and conservation of St. Albert’s natural or “green”, features are essential elements of city building and will become more critical as the city grows. By adopting an ecological network approach, the City recognizes that natural living systems function best when they are strongly connected to each other, both within and beyond city boundaries. The principles and policies in this section intend to foster a green environment through conservation efforts and sustainable development practices.

Principles

• Natural Features: Protect, conserve, and enhance natural features within St. Albert.
• Biodiversity: Conserve and enhance the biological diversity and health of wildlife, vegetation, and landscapes within St. Albert.
• Water Quality and Quantity: Contribute to the protection of water quality and quantity in the Sturgeon River watershed.
• Urban Forest: Protect and expand St. Albert’s urban forest and tree canopy.

Policies that support each of the above principles are outlined in the Flourish: Growing to 100K Municipal Development Plan.

How to Participate

IDEAS: Please use the Ideas tool to share your thoughts on Green Environment policy priorities.

FORUM: Please use the Forum tool to share your ideas on balancing preservation and use of natural features.

QUESTIONS: Need more information? Please use the Questions tool below.

NEWS FEED: View updates on this topic including progress and participation events.