Edmonton city council passes rezoning bylaw for priority growth areas

Edmonton city council passed a rezoning bylaw that aims to boost development in areas earmarked to grow quickly alongside the city's population.

The bylaw impacts sections of the Wîhkwêntôwin and Garneau areas, 124th and 156th streets and Stony Plain Road. The changes come after many spoke out against them at a public hearing and an amendment to remove a portion in Garneau was voted down.

The areas impacted were identified by city administration as priority growth areas — certain nodes and corridors in the redeveloping area that are expected to see the most growth short term, a city report said. 

The main bylaw was voted against by Couns. Karen Principe, Jennifer Rice and Tim Cartmell during first reading. But by third reading, all councillors voted to pass the bylaw.

"The Priority Growth Area (PGA) rezoning will help implement the long-term vision of both the City Plan and District Plans and encourage more housing and business development in these important areas," the report said.

The priority growth area rezoning bylaw would involve different rezonings, including a combination of mixed-use, large- and medium-scale residential, and small-medium scale transition residential zones. That would allow for medium- to large-scale housing and mixed-use development.

The city chose five areas, which were identified as being connecting sections that would see some of the largest developments in Edmonton.

Other factors range from access to transit, strong market demand, and the ability to explore proactive rezoning.

The city said the final proposal was refined numerous times through two rounds of public engagement, which included in-person workshops, "chat with a planner" meetings, open houses and a city-wide survey.

Matthew Boonstra spoke in favour of the bylaw.  He said as someone in his 20s who went to the University of Alberta, he knows how important it is to build more housing in these areas. 

He remembers a lack of available apartment buildings when he went to school.

"When I first moved by the university, just for context, I was with half a dozen roommates. We were crammed into home from the 1940s … it was falling apart."

He said these growth areas are more than places for people to live, especially because they are along major public transportation routes.

"There are places for people to gather, to work, and most importantly, places that we want lots of people to live, gather and work, because we are putting billions of dollars of our public money into these [transit] projects," Boonstra said.

Kevin Taft, former MLA and organizer with Better Infill, was one of a number of people who voiced concern that land speculation for these rezoned lots will drive up prices and hinder affordability.

"It's not clear that the public benefit of this mass rezoning is worth this cost. So I'm left wondering, why not just wait for land owners to apply for rezoning?" he said.

Travis Pawlyk, branch manager of development services with the city, said that increases in prices are driven more by demand than zoning.

"It was our contention that a broad based rezoning of all of the parcels within the city all at once would not fuel that speculative action."

He added the zoning bylaw renewal has held up as Edmonton remains relatively affordable compared to the rest of Canada.

Amendment voted down

Jane Dawson lives in Garneau and said the area is already dense, with a variety of housing types. She asked that 81st Avenue be removed from the priority growth area.

"There's a whole push for affordable housing, but this initiative does not do it. And paradoxically, it will make it more expensive to live in this area. So it's going in the wrong way."

Coun. Michael Janz proposed an amendment to remove 28 parcels on the north side of 81st Avenue from the Garneau area after hearing community pushback. 

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said that if Garneau isn't a priority growth area, he doesn't know what is.

"Would you not see this as the ideal corridor for higher density?" he asked, citing the access to transit, amenities and the university.

Coun. Aaron Paquette said the university area should have density comparable to a downtown — but at the same time communities need to feel heard and connected to decisions made on their behalf. 

"The issue there is that it kind of opens a can of worms. Lots of different communities can come in and then start saying like, well, what about us?" Paquette said.

That amendment was narrowly defeated in a 5-7 vote. Couns. Janz, Paquette, Principe,  Rice and Cartmell voted in favour.