July 8 2021
Zoning Bylaw Renewal Team
10111 104 Ave NW
Edmonton AB, T5J 0J5
RE: Zoning Bylaw Renewal June 2021 Workbooks
To: Zoning Bylaw Renewal Team
The Infill Development in Edmonton Association (IDEA) is the voice of the infill development community in
Edmonton. Our purpose is to drive change toward people-centred communities, and we do so through education, research, information sharing and representing the voice of infill on many City committees and before City Council. Our diverse and expanding membership is made up of small businesses and includes builders, developers, consultants, suppliers, as well as community members.
IDEA continues to support the overall approach to Zoning Bylaw renewal and the prioritization of GBA+ and equity considerations. Our feedback on the June 2021 Zoning Bylaw Renewal Workbooks and our priorities, which have been shared with your team throughout the engagement process, are below.
APPROACH FOR ZONES
Overall we are supportive of the approach for zones. We believe that a large reduction in the number of zones is necessary to provide more flexibility in the uses and built form of our city’s neighbourhoods. It will be important that the new zones are not too broad, as this could create a push for some development to be done under direct control zoning or to introduce new overlays to create more certainty for Council and communities. Having the right number of zones will help to provide this certainty and reduce resistance to change from the community.
We also support the hybrid approach with form-based and use-based zoning and look forward to the increased diversity and mix of uses it can create. We feel that a key element in the success of this approach will be ensuring that Development Officers are well trained in the nuances of form-based zoning and that they are empowered to confidently make decisions under this new framework.
APPROACH FOR USES
We also support the approach for uses, as the current separation of uses with similar activities and impacts creates unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. This is also consistent with the notion of creating complete neighbourhoods that provide a broad range of housing, work, educational and recreational opportunities for the local residents. The new uses will need to be clearly defined without being overly prescriptive. Conditional uses should not merely become replacements for discretionary uses and the conditions under which they are allowed must be clear. A large part of the work in reducing the number of uses will need to be around how we get the public and Council to embrace more uncertainty about what can be built in a neighborhood.
APPROACH FOR RESIDENTIAL AREAS
Our membership is also supportive of having fewer residential zones and only one residential use, as we do not believe that different building configurations constitute different uses. Uses should be based on activities rather than built form. Again, it will be crucial to create the right number of zones to reduce reliance on direct control zones. We are curious about how up-zoning and down-zoning will work, and how that will be communicated to the public and property owners, and would like to see some examples about how these practices have been implemented in other cities.
DATA AND STORYTELLING
IDEA is optimistic about the direction this project is taking. We believe that communicating to the public through data and storytelling about how the new zoning bylaw will help to implement the City Plan vision is also essential. Relevant information on the way that more diverse housing, connected communities and mixed-use development contribute to prosperous neighbourhoods can be drawn from organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, ETS, the Public and Catholic School boards, and the BIAs. We would be happy to discuss this further with you if you have any questions.
Please feel welcome to contact IDEA any time at mariah@infilledmonton.com or at 780-951-6926.
Sincerely,
Mariah Samji
Executive Director
Infill Development in Edmonton Association