'Absolute mess': Public put on hold as city council wades through marathon zoning session
'It's creating false hope in the community or misleading the public.'
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Even though they were told they were free to go, the majority in the gallery elected to remain. Attendees included mayoral hopeful Tony Caterina and Reed Clarke, who is running for election in Ward Nakota Isga as part of Cartmell's Better Edmonton party. Another Better Edmonton member, Ward papastew's Joshua Doyle, was also there.
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What council did get to
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They sat and heard as council addressed another zoning issue, which also has been a hot-button topic in mature neighbourhoods. The zoning bylaw currently states that the city would 'support' small-scale densification developments in existing residential neighbourhoods, even if the projects were outside of the 'nodes and corridors' specified in the City Plan. This led to blowback from community groups concerned that this created a development free-for-all.
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An amendment on the table would see the city consider upzoning if the development meets two of these conditions: 'In a node or corridor area or within 100 metres of a node or corridor area; within 400 metres of a mass transit station; along an arterial roadway or a collector roadway; at a corner site or adjacent to a park or open space; adjacent to a site zoned for greater than small-scale development.' The proposed change would create some rules for developers to follow.
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'It's a good first step,' said John Soltice, a co-founder of Edmonton Neighbourhoods United, 'But it could go further.'
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Another speaker, Sabina Qureshi, said that she's encouraged that council is 'finally listening' to residents.
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'These are the people who live in the neighbourhoods,' she said. 'These are the ones you should listen to. These are the people who elect you.'
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Like Soltice, Jennifer Faulkner of the Parkallen Community League said the proposal is a first move to prevent 'overbuild neighbourhood capacity.' She's concerned that the zoning bylaw opens the entire Parkallen neighbourhood to redevelopment, when the south side of the community has only one access to an arterial road and can't handle the added capacity.
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But, there are other considerations at play. While there is no doubt a grassroots movement happening throughout the city's mature neighbourhoods to battle the zoning bylaw, there are investors who have already sunk money into in-progress developments and they worry that changing the rules after just one year pulls the rug out from under their feet. There are also concerns that blocking densification efforts would, eventually, push house prices higher and wreck the affordability advantage that Edmonton has over other major Canadian cities.
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'Shifting back to minimizing density after just a year stands to undercut these efforts,' said Kelvin Hamilton, a local architect.
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Rick Dulat is a developer with more than 20 projects on the go, and seven are in the permitting process. He warned council that changing the rules could result in legal actions against the city.
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'This is not how a reliable permitting process works.' he said.
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'It's hard not to see the political motivations at play,' said Dulat, a swipe at Cartmell's planned motion to pause infill.
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Dulat said he's been developing in mature neighbourhoods for a decade. And, he's met resistance. He said signage of a corner-lot development in Crestwood was vandalized with the words 'slum lord.'
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'I am really tired. I am exhausted. I face racism. I face vandalism.'
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A balancing act
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Coun, Andrew Knack, expected to be Cartmell's main rival for the mayor's chair, said council will strike a balance between the two opposing forces.
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'We've been making changes to the zoning bylaw for the last decade and, each time we make changes, there are always going to be some applications that are impacted,' he said. 'We absolutely want to respect (the development industry's) time and attention. We also need to make sure we're listening to the residents that we serve, as well.
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'We'll probably debate what the the right time is for this to take effect, and if there are any legal requirements that we have as a city for applications under review.'
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