September 26, 2022
City Council
City of Edmonton
1 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton AB, T5J 2R7
RE: September 27, 2022, Urban Planning Committee Items 10.1 District Planning Process
To Urban Planning Committee, Mayor and City Council:
The Infill Development in Edmonton Association (IDEA) is an educational and advocacy nonprofit, non-partisan association that represents over 180 city builders and city shapers. Our purpose is to drive change toward people-centred communities within Edmonton’s mature neighbourhoods. The majority of our members are small and local businesses, passionate about executing Council’s City Plan goals.
IDEA believes that the first stage of City Plan implementation is critical: growing from 1 million to 1.25 million residents while shifting our development pattern from developing to redeveloping neighbourhoods. These changes will take significant policy changes and a change in the mindset of “this is how it is and how it has always been; we need to go slow” to “this change will take a lot of effort, and we need to do all that we can to make it happen”. Projects such as Zoning Bylaw Renewal and District Planning need to build on the strong foundation of City Plan to empower infill and urban redevelopment.
THE ISSUE
The District Planning project is proposing to leave many Area Redevelopment Plans (ARPs) in place, rather than repeal them and/or integrate them into the District Plan in which they are located. These plans were created many years before City Plan and do not align with City Plan. Keeping them in place creates a contradictory, confusing and complicated planning hierarchy that's more expensive and difficult to navigate for industry, staff, and community. It’s also an unnecessary barrier to redevelopment. An overly complicated planning and approvals process does nothing but increase the cost of housing in mature neighbourhoods, where housing is already expensive, and entry-level housing is in short supply.
PROPOSED SOLUTION
Repeal all ARPs in the redeveloping area that do not directly align with City Plan. Integrate relevant policy into the District Plan for the area.
IDEA would like to thank City Administration and Council for their continuous work in implementing City Plan. This work will allow us to create, together, more socially, financially and environmentally sustainable neighbourhoods.
Thank you for your time. If you have any questions, please contact IDEA via Mariah Samji at mariah@infilledmonton.com or 780-951-6926.
Sincerely,
Letter sent to Edmonton City Council, Office of the City Clerks, Deputy City Manager of Urban Planning and Economy, Branch Manager Planning and Environment Services, and the Project Lead of District Planning