Form and Infrastructure

Goal 5

Spruce Grove manages growth to ensure the city is economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable.

Goal 6

Spruce Grove remains a compact, safe, and efficient community that emphasizes connectivity, special places, and parks and open space and promotes a high standard of community design incorporating green and health living principles.

Urban form and infrastructure together dictate the layout and feel of a city. In its current form, Spruce Grove is dominated by single-family housing, automobile oriented transportation systems, highway commercial development, and industrial parks south of Highway 16A.

Recent years have seen efforts to increase residential densities and housing options, expand the parks and open space network, and provide commuter transit service for Spruce Grove residents. A diverse mix of redevelopment projects is breathing new energy into the downtown core.

The City has an opportunity to build on recent initiatives and direct growth and development in a way that will increase both Spruce Grove’s liveability and sustainability.

Growth management

Accommodate 45,000 residents by 2040 through growth management strategies.

• Base future growth decisions on the MDP and the Capital Region Growth Plan
• Develop and update Area Structure Plans and Area Redevelopment Plans
• Ensure the city has adequate residential, commercial, and industrial land
• Continue to maintain up-to-date demographic data

Direct development so it is contiguous and makes efficient use of land, infrastructure, transportation networks, and other community resources.

• Integrate land use and transportation planning decisions to create a more compact urban form
• Intensify land use and prevent premature development of agricultural lands
• Increase residential densities and housing types and develop in a bus-friendly way
• Ensure development occurs adjacent to already developed areas

Base urban form on the parks and open space network

• Create an integrated network of different types of open spaces
• Ensure new open spaces contribute to the overall system

Reinforce existing neighbourhood and community gathering places and create new ones in developing, future and redeveloping areas, and where possible, in already developed areas.

• Apply a variety of design strategies to create and reinforce gathering places
• Integrate commercial development, open spaces, transit, and pedestrian connections in gathering places
• Incorporate Spruce Grove's special places into gathering places

Neighbourhood design and housing

Implement high standards of neighbourhood design and landscaping to enhance residents' quality of life.

• Develop community design guidelines
• Integrate gathering places, open space, trails, and commercial development into neighbourhoods
• Increase pedestrian and cyclist orientation of neighbourhood streets
• Increase housing options and residential densities across the community

Integrate housing types and densities

• Apply two levels of density to the community
• Focus higher density in proximity to amenities, transit, and gathering places

Increase housing options and densities through limited redevelopment opportunities in established neighbourhoods

• Monitor the cumulative impact of infill and redevelopment to protect the essential character of the established neighbourhood under question
• Use zoning policies to ensure infill and redevelopment is content appropriate
• Require adequate on-site parking and private green space

Implement innovative neighbourhood design strategies in developing and future neighbourhoods to increase housing densities and types while maintaining a high quality of life.

• Achieve an overall density level of 25 to 30 units per net residential hectare with a minimum of 30% Level 2 housing (new/developing areas)
• Require adequate parking and private green space
• Develop bus-friendly Urban Villages in targeted areas (see Future Land Use map )
• Link residential areas with gathering places through road and trail connections

City centre

Develop the City Centre as a mixed use area of activity with a distinct identity.

• Prepare a redevelopment plan for the City Centre which focuses on:
  • small-scale service oriented businesses;
  • pedestrian mobility;
  • civic and open spaces;
  • mixed use development; and
  • higher density residential development
• Analyze transportation circulation patterns and develop a parking strategy 

Gateway Lands

Develop Gateway Lands as an integrated land use development which takes advantage of its strategic location on the Yellowhead TransCanada Highway while still considering local context and overall connectivity.

• Update the Pioneer Area Structure Plan and focus on:
  • integrated land use development;
  • regional service and commercial uses;
  • relationship with Jubilee Park/surrounding land uses; and
  • Innovative, compact, high quality design.
• Include in this area:
  • transit park and ride;
  • community level gathering place; and 
  • medium to high density residential.

Parks and open space network

Provide a range of parks and open spaces that meet the needs of all residents at different stages of life and offer passive and active opportunities.

• Provide non-structured and structured parks and open space
• Incorporate new parks/open spaces into the overall network
• Reinforce gathering spaces using parks and open space
• Ensure all parks are accessible by pedestrians and cyclists

Pursue a range of strategies to expand the parks and open space network.

• Use the Parks and Open Space Master Plan to guide future park acquisition
• Incorporate stormwater management facilities into the network
• Use Municipal Reserve and Environmental Reserve authority to expand the network 

Transportation systems

Develop an efficient integrated multi-modal transportation system.

• Increase linkages between different forms of transportation
• Incorporate the needs of different forms of transportation into the Transportation Master Plan
• Work with developers to increase overall connectivity at the subdivision stage

Provide reliable short and long-range transportation planning to accommodate the movement of people and goods within Spruce Grove and the surrounding region based on existing and future land use.

• Monitor traffic counts and movements to ensure road capacity is adequate
• Implement improvements as required to reduce congestion
• Maintain a hierarchy of streets to manage transportation flows
• Protect regional transportation corridors

Expand and integrate transit and other alternative and active transportation infrastructure and services.     

• Expand the capacity of the regional commuter bus service
• Develop a local transit network that provides transit stops within 400m of 90% of houses by 2040
• Integrate bus stops and bicycle stands into gathering places
• Incorporate sidewalks into commercial areas and provide pedestrian and cyclist connections to adjacent residential areas

Infrastructure

Develop and continually update long-term infrastructure development, maintenance, and replacement plans.

• Implement a life-cycle approach to infrastructure development and maintenance
• Coordinate development of urban services
• Manage stormwater runoff to environmental standards
• Use development agreements to help cover the costs of infrastructure expansion.