‘Royal View’ in city’s future plans North development years away

Today, the name “Royal View” is linked to the city’s new, northside cemetery. It was selected in memory of a coal mine that employed Lethbridge miners many years ago.

But it’s also the name given to a wide swath of land at the city’s north end destined for residential development in years to come. City officials have already begun the planning process, though there’s no timeline for development.

And local residents have already taken a look at a conceptual map of the area, as an area structure plan is being considered.

People who attended a recent open house on the plan expressed general support, says Brad Schmidtke, a senior associate with Stantec. The map shows a mixture of low- and mediumdensity housing, parks, school sites and a neighbourhood commercial area near today’s 13 Street North, about midway between 44 Avenue and the city limits at 62 Avenue North.

Residential streets will likely follow the “modified grid” pattern used in Blackwolf, instead of the “curvilinear” approach taken in much of west Lethbridge.

Open house participants were interested to see how the city will continue to grow, he says. More public input will be sought when the city starts work on outline plans as development nears. How soon that will come, he says, depends on how quickly the city grows.

The land, now farmed by the Burbridge family, extends east from the headlands of the river valley all the way to 28 Street North. It runs north from Blackwolf, Hardieville and the final phase of Legacy Ridge to the current city limits.

When fully developed, Schmidtke says, the Royal View lands could accommodate 16,000 people in about 6,800 residential units. But those numbers might not be reached for another 50 years, he points out.

That depends on how far development extends on the city’s west and southeast area. An outline plan is also in the works for the city’s southeast sector, Schmidtke notes.

“That is probably the largest.” But Royal View “is also a fairly substantial one.”

Its area structure plan is expected to be presented for city council approval later this spring, he adds.