Edmonton climate policies drive up city building costs, report shows

The City of Edmonton is amending a key climate policy after a report showed building facilities like fire halls and recreation centres in Edmonton is higher due to its current standards than it would be if the city followed a basic design.

Last November, city councillors asked administration for a cost-benefit analysis to see how much city policies were adding to the price of building capital projects, concerned that it generally costs less to build in neighbouring jurisdictions like Leduc. 

The city commissioned a third party, S2 Architecture, to compare two theoretical fire station models: one designed with the City of Edmonton's bylaws and policies and one designed to meet only the minimum code requirements.

The findings show that building a fire hall under the city's current standards would cost just over $21 million, 58 per cent more than the $13 million estimated to build a station with a basic design.

The case study factored in four city policies when building: the climate resilience policy, the fire rescue service delivery policy, City of Edmonton facility construction standard and the Edmonton Design Committee process. 

Council's new infrastructure committee discussed the report's findings at a meeting Wednesday.

"Direct construction costs are increased by the application of city requirements," Pascale Ladouceur, the city's branch manager of infrastructure planning and design, told councillors. 

"The biggest cost driver is the climate resilience policy."

The committee heard from several speakers, including Lindsay Butterfield with BILD Edmonton Metro, a real estate industry association, who asked councillors to review the policies. 

"Look at all the options and make trade-offs where they're necessary because we should be looking to minimize costs as well for the entire city's benefit," Butterfield said. 

LISTEN | A fiery debate over fire hall costs:

Edmonton AM7:51A fiery debate over fire hall costs in Edmonton

A new report suggests that certain city policies are contributing to the rising costs of building municipal infrastructure. The case study examined the cost differences between a firehall designed according to provincial building codes and one designed according to Edmonton's requirements. It found the Edmonton model would cost almost twice as much. Some experts are questioning that result. Jacob Komar is an engineer who specializes in net-zero buildings and is the co-chair of Edmonton's climate resilience committee.

But climate advocates, including Jim Sandercock with the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation, urged councillors to follow the current climate policy. 

"It's going to be really expensive in the future to retrofit buildings that were built to minimum code."

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi introduced a motion directing administration to amend the climate policy and explore options for reducing costs while still meeting the goal of creating zero emissions. 

Committee agreed to the motion and administration is scheduled to present the proposed amendments next spring.

"Absolutely, we cannot lose the intent of these policies," Sohi said. "They are there for a good reason, whether they're there for climate resiliency, whether they're there for the safety and protection and creating the right conditions for our front-line folks."

'Valid question'

Ladouceur said the findings in the report are a springboard to reviewing the current rules. 

"I think it's a valid question for councillors to understand: Have we made decisions in the past, administration and council together, that impacts the cost of our infrastructure?" Ladouceur said in an interview Tuesday. 

The climate resilience policy requires the design to be emissions-neutral.

The co-chair of the city's energy transition and climate resilience committee, Jacob Komar, argues that the report findings are inflated because the consultants used higher standards in the case study examples than what's actually needed to create an energy-efficient building. 

"The walls are probably to an insulation level that is double what is needed for a net-zero building," Komar said in an interview with CBC News Tuesday. 

Also an engineer who works on net-zero emissions projects, Komar said there's a diminishing return on insulation — the more you add, the less you get for it. 

"So the walls, the roof, the windows, the doors — there's over $2 million of extra cost that they've added." 

Ward sipiwiyiniwak Coun. Sarah Hamilton said the case study is an opportunity for reviewing and possibly revising policies, not setting a firm path for council to take. 

"The government has a role in terms of furthering climate resilience. We have a role in furthering design excellence. We have a role in furthering, I think even our own construction standards," Hamilton said. 

"We've heard over the decades that Edmontonians don't want something disposable. They want to be proud of the buildings that we're building with their money."