Zone In: May 25 Public Hearing + Shout Out to Our Staff!

Hello!

Welcome to Issue #6 of Zone In, Situate’s newsletter on what’s what at Edmonton City Council public hearings on land development.

The next City Council public hearing is tomorrow—Wednesday, May 25. Read on for the summary of what’s coming up (and what Council approved at the last public hearing on May 10).

THE ‘WHY’ BEHIND ZONE IN

What goes on at City Council public hearings is of interest to many of us, but we know that most people, most of the time, don’t have time to monitor public hearing agendas. For that reason, we created Zone In to make it easier to find out what’s going on at Council, and easier to show your support for good applications that may not otherwise get much love.

Our summaries focus on applications related to infill and urban redevelopment. Situate’s client files are highlighted in orange.

MAY 10, 2022 PUBLIC HEARING RECAP

First, let’s recap what happened at the May 10 public hearing. The five residential infill files were Items 3.12 and 3.13 (dealt with together), Item 3.14, Item 3.15, Items 3.17, 3.18, and 3.19 (dealt with together), Item 3.22, and Items 3.23 and 3.24 (dealt with together)

Item 3.12/3.13 was a rezoning application in West Jasper Place on a 1,374 square metre site on 153 Street just south of Stony Plain Road—a primary corridor. The application was submitted by SPAN Architecture on behalf of a private landowner to rezone the site from the RA7 (low rise apartment) zone to the RA8 (medium rise apartment) zone. The rezoning would allow an increase in the maximum building height from four storeys to six. The rezoning required an amendment to the Jasper Place Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP) to allow the building height to increase.

The application was selected for debate by Councillor Knack, who asked why Administration had determined that an ARP amendment was required, as the difference in height was not significant. Councillor Stevenson stated that when the Jasper Place ARP was created, the intent was that four and six storey buildings would both be considered low rise buildings, and an ARP amendment should not have been required. The item was passed unanimously by City Council.

Item 3.14 was an application in Sherwood to rezone a single 686 square metre lot at the corner of 152 Street and 94 Avenue. Submitted by Urban Systems on behalf of a private landowner, the application proposed to rezone the site from the RF1 (single detached residential) zone to the RF3 (small scale infill development) zone to allow for small scale multi-unit housing. The site is located between two secondary corridors (149 Street and 156 Street) and about 475 metres from the future Glenwood/Sherwood LRT station. The item was passed unanimously by Council without debate.

Item 3.15 was a rezoning application in Woodcroft for a 633 square metre lot at the corner of 139 Street and Woodcroft Avenue, just north of 115 Avenue. The application was submitted by SPAN Architecture on behalf of a private landowner, and proposed to rezone the site from the RF1 (single detached residential) zone to the RF5 (row housing) zone. The RF5 zone would allow for the development of up to five principal dwellings of ground-oriented multi-unit housing. The site is located close to a number of amenities and is across the street from a school and park (though not in a node or corridor). There were two speakers in opposition to the rezoning.

Councillor Rutherford, the ward Councillor, asked questions about parking, whether the units will be rented or sold, and expressed concerns that infill is not affordable. Councillor Salvador asked questions about the protection of on-site trees, and said that more missing middle development is needed so that there will be more homes in the middle range of affordability. City Administration stated that questions of tenure do not factor into their review of rezoning applications, and that a report about trees will be coming to Council in June. The item was passed unanimously by Council.

Item 3.17/3.18/3.19 was an application in McKernan to rezone six lots at the corner of 109 Street and 77 Avenue, submitted by Watkins Land Developments Ltd. The site is approximately 2,300 square metres in total area. The proposal would rezone the site from a DC2 (site specific development control provision) to the RA7 (low rise apartment) and RF3 (small scale infill development) zones, allowing for low rise multi-unit housing on 109 Street and smaller scale housing on the avenue. The applicant wanted to apply standard zoning to the site in order to increase its marketability. The site is located on the 109 Street secondary corridor, as designated by City Plan. The application required amendments to both the 109 Street Corridor Area Redevelopment Plan and the McKernan-Belgravia Station Area Redevelopment Plan in order to update maps. The item was passed unanimously without debate.

Finally, Item 3.23/3.24 was an application in Central McDougall to rezone a 697 square metre, midblock site from the RF1 (single detached residential) zone to the RA7 (low rise apartment) zone. The site is located on 108 Street, between 110 Avenue and 111 Avenue, which is a primary corridor. It was submitted by Green Space Alliance on behalf of the property owner in order to develop a small multi-unit residential building. The application required an amendment to the Central McDougall/Queen Mary Park Area Structure Plan. There were six speakers in opposition to the rezoning. Councillor Stevenson stated that she would support the rezoning as it was consistent with where we want to go as a city, and will allow more people to enjoy the Queen Mary Park neighbourhood. The item was passed unanimously by Council.

MAY 25, 2022 PUBLIC HEARING AGENDA OVERVIEW

The May 25 public hearing agenda has a total of fifteen items: one item pertains to industrial land, eight items are in the developing area (new neighbourhoods), and six items are in the redeveloping area (mature neighbourhoods).

The notable infill files are Items 3.10 and 3.11 (to be dealt with together), Items 3.12 and 3.13 (to be dealt with together), and Items 3.14 and 3.15 (to be dealt with together).

Item 3.10/3.11 is an application to rezone three lots totaling 1,620 square metres in Glenwood. The site is on the corner of 162 Street and 100 Avenue, two blocks south of Stony Plain Road—a primary corridor. The application was submitted by Tamon Architecture on behalf of a private landowner to rezone the site from the RF1 (single detached residential zone) to the RA7 (low rise apartment) zone. The rezoning would allow for the development of a multi-unit housing building with a height of approximately four storeys. The rezoning requires an amendment to the Jasper Place Area Redevelopment Plan to change the land use designation of the site from SPR1 Transit Oriented Housing to SPR2 Multi-family Housing.

Item 3.12/3.13 is an application submitted by Situate on behalf of Equity Built Homes to rezone a single lot in Queen Mary Park at the corner of 113 Street and 110a Avenue. The application proposes to rezone the site from the RF1 (single detached residential) zone to the RF3 (small scale infill development) zone to allow for small scale multi-unit (row) housing. The site is located one block south of 111 Avenue, which is a primary corridor. The rezoning requires an amendment to the Central McDougall/Queen Mary Park Area Redevelopment Plan to amend a map.

Lastly, Item 3.14/3.15 is a rezoning application in Westmount for a large corner site on 111 Avenue and 124 Street. The application was submitted by V3 Companies of Canada on behalf of a private landowner and proposes to rezone the site from the CB1 (low intensity business) zone and RA8 (medium rise apartment) zone to the CB3 (commercial mixed business) zone with the Main Streets Overlay. The proposed rezoning would allow for the development of a ten to twelve storey mixed-use building. The site is located on a primary corridor (111 Avenue) and a secondary corridor (124 Street). The rezoning requires an amendment to the West Ingle Area Redevelopment Plan to redesignate the area south of 111 Avenue on 124 street to “pedestrian oriented shopping street.” All of the infill files have support from City of Edmonton Administration and align with City Plan.

HOW TO SHOW SUPPORT

If any of these applications grabbed your attention as something you like, or that you’d like to see more of in Edmonton, grab your keyboard and let Council know. You can register to speak here or send a quick email to City Council at city.clerk@edmonton.ca with the subject line “SUPPORT re: Item #.##, May 25, 2022 Public Hearing” and body text along the lines of “I am an Edmontonian who supports the City Plan goals of creating a more livable, sustainable and compact city. For that reason I fully support the above referenced project.”

HOW TO WATCH PUBLIC HEARINGS

If you really love infill and municipal politics, watch the public hearing live on the City’s YouTube channel! The action starts at 1:30 PM on May 25.

SHOUT OUT TO OUR STAFF

Jeff Booth recently celebrated his one year anniversary with Situate–if you’ve worked with us recently you probably know Jeff for his airtight regulatory expertise and no-nonsense approach to project management. Give him a shout out over on LinkedIn!

THAT’S A WRAP

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The next City Council public hearing is June 8. Watch your inbox!