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Housing development under fire

Lacombe mayoral candidate Bill McQuesten says his city needs to welcome developers instead of competing with them.

LACOMBE — Lacombe mayoral candidate Bill McQuesten says his city needs to welcome developers instead of competing with them.

He said in 2009, Lacombe lost about $10 million in residential housing permits when lots went unsold at Legacy Pointe residential subdivision, part of the Residential Housing Development Initiative (REHDI) program.

“I personally don’t agree with a city getting into residential land development. We should not be the regulator and compete with developers at the same time. It simply doesn’t work,” said McQuesten at election forum at the Lacombe Memorial Centre on Thursday that attracted about 300 people.

Some of the housing decline was due to the recession. But compared to Blackfalds, which dropped one per cent in housing development, Lacombe dropped 30 per cent, he said.

Most of the drop was “due to the fact that developers simply gave up on Lacombe,” McQuesten said.

“I support free enterprise because it does work. The reality is investors and developers will not come into a city knowing they have to compete with taxpayers dollars.”

He wasn’t the only candidate to slam the development at the forum sponsored by the Lacombe & District Chamber of Commerce.

“This is an ill-conceived program that must not be allowed to continue. I want to be very clear on my stance on this initiative or any other that wastes our tax dollars on high risk, speculative ventures,” said council candidate Grant Creasey.

Council incumbent Dawn Parent said the housing project needs to be brought back to the table.

“I believe when the decision was made council felt it was the right thing to do at the time,” Parent said.

The city is still committed to completing one phase of the development, but it’s time to rethink the project and work together with developers so developers “can do what they do best and let them develop the land,” she said.

Legacy Pointe was developed after the Mayor’s Task Force on Housing recommended that the city take a hands-on development role to address local housing needs, suggesting low-income and social needs housing should be a top priority.

Council incumbent Ian Foster said he doesn’t believe the free market alone will ensure that Lacombe has the housing that people need.

“I don’t think that’s the case. We need to help control the development with proper planning processes,” Foster said.

Also running for mayor is Steve Christie, a two-term councillor.

Other council candidates are Joanne Boruck, Peter John Bouwsema, Reuben Konnik, Nik Willing. Other council incumbents are Outi Kite, and Wayne Rempel.

szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com