A Tale of Two Cities
White City and Emerald Park, Saskatchewan, will soon see the first phase of development, leading to an exciting new master planned community including a new Town Centre known as Royal Park.
Royal Park spans two municipalities with ~ 481 acres in the Town of White City and ~219 acres in the RM of Edenwold 158. White City and Emerald Park (RM of Edenwold) are located approximately four miles east of Regina. Royal Park will be a full-service community planned around a new Town Centre.
“The lands are located about half a mile to the south of the TransCanada Highway, which is the main access to the Town of White City and Emerald City,” explains Daria McDonald, Senior Planner at B&A Planning Group “Access to the area was enhanced through improvements to Betteridge Road and the Regina Bypass spurring development interest in the area. This gave rise to a partnership between La Vita Land Inc. and the All-Rite Group of Companies who joined forces in developing this +/- 700 acres of land.”
In 2018, both the municipalities approved in principle to the Concept Plans which together make up the whole of Royal Park and will include residential, civic and commercial uses designed around the new Town Centre. La Vita and All-Rite’s project team included: B&A Planning Group for Planning and Design, Stantec for Civil Engineering, Stormwater Management, as well as the Biophysical Impact Assessment, Environmental Site Assessment and geotechnical reports, and WSP for Transportation Planning. A separate application and approval process took place in each municipality, that respected the comprehensive vision for the lands.
Royal Park includes a large area of land and La Vita and All-Rite wanted to plan it in a way that identity was strong and design elements would create sense of place to provide residents with feelings of ownership and pride in their neighbourhood. Therefore, B&A developed a vision that included an overarching community identity, and small pocket neighbourhoods to give residents a greater sense of local connection.
Layering this vision onto the historical origins of White City’s name, and the desire to bridge the new development to the Town’s rich historic roots, B&A developed the Royal Park theme which includes an overarching community called Royal Park, and seven boroughs within.
Similar to the boroughs of London, England, each borough of Royal Park is focused on a landmark or local park. Naming these local features will further the borough’s identity and sense of place. The vision for Royal Park introduces areas that provide an urban style of development, while other areas will maintain the rural style of development reflective of the rest of White City and the RM of Edenwold.
Royal Park will offer a(n):
- site for a high school,
- elementary school,
- town centre with a public plaza for social events,
- integration of Chuka Creek with natural and manicured parks and pathways along with opportunity for a beach and recreation area,
- pathways and sidewalks to promote walkability throughout and,
- connection to the TransCanada Trail system.
The Town Centre is key to the identity of Royal Park. It is envisioned as a destination point for residents , drawn there the by synergy created from combining public spaces with civic and retail uses, offering opportunities for interaction between families, seniors and individuals from all walks of life.
Main Street will be a retail area enhanced by angle parking, a pedestrian scale streetscape, landscaping, and quality urban design. The mixed – use area of the Town Centre may consist of ground floor retail with 1-2 story residential above.
“Stage 1 includes the Town Centre area north of the lake and a portion to the southwest. Stage 2 will be residential,” Daria says. “At full build out Stage 1 will provide approximately 800 new homes at a density of about 5.0 units per acre. It is planned to be primarily single-family housing but will include some townhomes and apartments. Not only does it offer a choice of housing styles, it offers a range of lot sizes to meet a variety of housing needs.”
To achieve the goals of each Council, an expanded set of tools in the form of a new land use district, in both municipalities, was necessary. These new land use districts aim to allow for a wide range of residential uses to promote housing variety, sustainability and responsible growth.
Now that the concept plan has been approved in principal, the next step in the process is the subdivision application to Community Planning (the Province) for Phase One. Concurrently, La Vita and All-Rite will proceed with the land use amendment for Phase One. After rezoning and subdivision, the application(s) for development permits will follow.
Daria says, “B&A is proud to have been part of this exciting project for both our clients and the communities and looks forward to seeing this project come to fruition as it continues to progress through the subdivision and development stages.”
