Garneau rezoning contentious as councillors try to balance growth, historic character

A public hearing Monday about rezoning a lot in one of Edmonton's oldest neighbourhoods heard passionate pleas from those who think the city needs to provide more housing options for its fast-growing student population, and from others who hope to preserve the area's historic character.

City administration is exploring rezoning in Garneau to allow for more housing on a single lot at 10948 89th Ave.

Administration was initially seeking to have the lot rezoned from a small-scale residential zone to a medium-scale
residential zone up to four storeys.

Administration sought a rezoning that would allow for a height of 16 metres but told city council it would be unlikely it would be that tall and noted an option for a height of 12 metres. 

Those in favour of the rezoning cited a need for housing for those close to the University of Alberta. 

Eric Cameracci with advocacy group Grow Together Edmonton said the rezoning would make way to support a population with diverse needs. 

"Limiting the growth of this area with easy access to business, businesses and amenities does a disservice to the neighbourhood, the people within it and the surrounding area," Cameracci told council. 

Ryan Eidick, director of Eins Development Consulting, spoke on the property owner's behalf. He cited the U of A's undergraduate and graduate enrolment report for 2024-25, which outlines a plan to increase its enrolment by 35 per cent by 2033 to about 60,000 students.

In 2024-25, U of A's total enrolment reached 46,201, a year-over-year increase of 3.3 per cent. 

Administration told council that demand for housing has quickly outpaced supply. 

That has been among the key factors that have led to higher rents in the area. 

Abdul Abbasi, vice-president external for U of A's Students' Union, told CBC the need for housing is dire.

"Rent increase has been the biggest reason that our students are using campus food bank, which has seen a 600 per cent increase in the last five years," Abbasi said.  

"We have heard from a lot of students that they can't find housing, especially in the Garneau area, because everything is filled and a lot of times we hear that students are living in a basement or living in housing conditions that are not safe for them. So that is something that is a really big concern."

Councillors passed a motion to have administration revisit how rezoning could work if capped at 12 metres tall, after multiple speakers were concerned about how a potential development may affect the neighbourhood with parking, environmental impacts and diminishing the historic nature of the street. 

The motion passed 8-2 with Coun. Michael Janz and Erin Rutherford voting against the motion. 

Janz, whose Ward papastew includes Garneau, said the conversation shows the need for better guidance when it came to approaching and preserving historic areas in Edmonton. 

"Garneau is one of the few neighbourhoods where there is such an enormous amount of density compared to other housing typologies," Janz said. 

"Garneau has already had much more of the density for many, many, years."

Garneau is considered one of Edmonton's oldest neighbourhoods. It was first developed as part of the City of Strathcona, and was fully developed when it joined Edmonton in 1912.

Garneau resident Steph Neufeld was among some residents who said while they saw the merits of density, it needed to be done carefully. 

"I really think that there are some really good opportunities to maintain some small-scale housing in Garneau to preserve diversity," Neufeld, the Garneau community league president, told council. 

Neufeld also told council that there were other areas in Garneau that are underutilized and could be looked at to avoid "spot rezoning."

"We're a model community, a 15-minute district and a 15-minute community. We know that we're in a major node. So that density we have always supported," Neufeld said. 

"What we are now trying to make an argument for is that we maintain the diversity of housing types so we don't move to a more homogenized type, on the other side of the scale, where we lose all our small scale."