Zone In Issue #26

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE LAST #YEG PUBLIC HEARING

The May 15 public hearing had a total of twelve applications (eighteen agenda items), including six infill applications.

Of the six infill applications, two were small scale rezonings to allow for row housing, one was Situate’s RA8 application, and one was an application in Strathcona to allow for a rooftop addition and patio on top of the existing rear annex of the historic Crawford Block on Gateway Boulevard. All of those passed without any debate.

An application in Belvedere put forward by the City of Edmonton to rezone about five blocks on Fort Road from the current direct control zone to the standard CB2 commercial business zone was postponed to a future public hearing. 

INTERESTING

An application in Inglewood was back at public hearing after being twice postponed earlier this year. The application proposed to rezone a large site from the US (urban services) zone to the RF3 (small scale infill development) zone to allow for up to 17 units of row housing.

The site is vacant and previously functioned as open space next to an Edmonton Catholic School site. In 2015 the school board declared the entire site surplus land and put it up for sale. The previous landowners (who purchased the site from the school board) attempted to rezone the site to the RF5 (row housing) zone in 2020 and to the RF3 zone in 2021, without success. After the 2021 application, Council (the previous Council), asked Administration to negotiate with the landowner to purchase the site; however, the negotiation was unsuccessful and someone else acquired the land. The new landowner brought the RF3 application back to Council.

Council asked questions for about an hour and a half. Much of the debate focused on the perception that the land is a park and that the community is losing park space (although the land is privately owned and is not zoned as a park). Ultimately the application was defeated by nine votes, with everyone voting against aside from Councillors Hamilton, Stevenson, and Tang.

MEMORABLE QUOTES 💬

🏡 “This is not a question about whether this should be park space or not, it’s about whether this [housing] is an appropriate use of the land. And I haven’t heard anything here today that would make me disagree with what Administration has found [that it is].” – Sarah Hamilton, Councillor

🏁 “In practice, this is currently an open space but in fact it’s a privately owned parcel which in my mind is ideal for the type of infill development that what we want to be seeing in our communities.” – Anne Stevenson, Councillor

WHAT’S UP AT PUBLIC HEARING NEXT WEEK

The May 30 public hearing has a total of six applications (eight agenda items), including three infill applications that are profiled below.

WHAT SITUATE’S TAKING TO COUNCIL

Situate’s application is to rezone the former Petroleum Club site on 111 Avenue, a large vacant site within the Kingsway major node, from the CSC (shopping centre) zone to the CB3 (commercial mixed business) zone. The rezoning will allow the site to redevelop as a mid or high rise residential/commercial building. Can’t wait to see this parking lot be reborn! 👏

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING 🍿

👉 An RA8 application in Glenora is sure to be interesting, as always. We’ll be tuning in and letting you know how it all goes down in the next issue of Zone In!

👉 Also at public hearing on Tuesday is an application submitted by the City of Edmonton real estate branch to rezone the downtown land (parking lots) slated to become the Downtown Warehouse Campus Park.

Watch it live on Edmonton City Council’s YouTube channel; the action starts at 9:30 am on Tuesday, May 30.

NEWS FROM SITUATE

NEWS FROM THE CITY

📣 The last round of engagement on the City of Edmonton’s draft new zoning bylaw ends on May 31. Check out the public engagement page and let the City know you think it’s heading in the right direction… there’s a movement seeking to delay approval of the new Zoning Bylaw, so if you support this bylaw, let the City know.

UPCOMING EVENTS

TOMORROW – Developer Mixer: Join us for networking and a candid overview of the draft new Zoning Bylaw presented by our very own Chelsey Jersak. Hosted by Christenson Developments. Tuesday, May 30, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Location: Buco Pizzeria & Vino Bar, 10423 101 Street, Edmonton. Contact Kendra at 780-224-4644 if you have any questions about the event.

IDEA 10 Year Anniversary Gala: On Friday, June 23, 2023, join us at the Royal Glenora Club for a celebration filled with inspiration, innovation, and the remarkable achievements of the past decade. Get your tickets here!

SOME GOOD READS

Are stairways the culprit behind multi-family housing woes? Some people think so. Read: the overlooked yet omnipresent stairway, forever altering the landscape of housing design.

READER FEEDBACK

Hey, thanks for reading this far! We send this newsletter in the hopes of making it easier and more fun to understand (1) what’s going on at #yeg city council public hearings on land development and (2) zoning, infill, and the land (re)development process in general. If there’s a topic you’d like to read about let us know and we’ll do our best to write about it!

DISCLAIMER

Zone In is created by Situate Inc. and is for informational purposes only. The content in Zone In is not to be construed as planning, zoning, real estate or any other professional strategy or advice.