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Expect debates over lot splitting, skinny houses and condo towers to sweep across the Edmonton region as a new growth plan proposes infill targets for communities such as St. Albert and Sherwood Park.

The Capital Region Board’s draft plan released this week calls them “intensification targets.” If passed, each regional city and town would be required to submit a strategy for higher density redevelopment in existing areas. That means St. Albert should expect the same angry neighbourhood debates Edmontonians are having on infill policy.

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“The debate is hard,” said St. Albert Coun. Cathy Heron. “Because people who live there feel like they own (the neighbourhood). … People just have to understand that if you don’t do it, then to house the same number of people we’re expecting out in the green areas is just not feasible.”

Heron said three 20- to 25-storey towers approved this week for downtown St. Albert should it reach its target of 17.5 per cent of new growth in existing areas. Sherwood Park would have the same target. For comparison, in 2010 Edmonton set a target of 25 per cent. But last year, so much growth was happening in the suburbs, infill comprised only 13 per cent.