Edmonton Minute: Issue 296

Edmonton Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Edmonton politics

📅 This Week In Edmonton: 📅

• There will be a City Council Public Hearing today at 9:30 am, with eight planning and rezoning bylaws on the agenda. One proposal would rezone a vacant lot at 10004 - 112 Street in Wîhkwêntôwin for mixed use development up to 40 meters, or roughly 11 storeys, with the City hearing concerns during public notification that the proposed height is too tall for an area that already has enough high rises. Other items would allow medium scale housing on 111 Street in Wîhkwêntôwin and in the Prince Rupert neighbourhood, medium and large scale mixed use development in McCauley, and light industrial and small commercial businesses in Pembina. Council will also take up three related Rossdale items postponed from the June 23rd hearing, which would amend the Rossdale Area Redevelopment Plan, add a new River Crossing Special Area to the City's zoning rules, and rezone a set of riverside properties near 102 Street and 96 Avenue for medium and large scale development. Administration supports all eight bylaws, and each could receive final approval at the same meeting.
  
  
• City Council will meet tomorrow at 9:30 am, and two of the items on the agenda deal with how the City will pay to fix its aging infrastructure. Council will decide whether to formally create a Dedicated Renewal Fund Reserve, a step the Infrastructure Committee recommended at its June 24th meeting in response to a renewal funding shortfall projected at $2.8 billion over the 2027-2030 budget cycle and $10 billion over the next decade. Even if all available unconstrained funding went to renewal, Administration projects only 30% of the ideal investment in the City's $39.8-billion infrastructure portfolio would be funded over the next ten years. The report also details a proposed "enhancement" that would add a 0.5% tax increase every year from 2029 to 2036 dedicated to renewal - and even then, dedicated tax levies would cover only 60.7% of the projected renewal need in 2048. A companion report lays out Administration's draft priorities for renewing arterial roads, bridges, facilities, open spaces, and transit assets, with renewal of existing infrastructure prioritized over new growth projects in the next budget cycle. The 2027-2030 budget itself will be deliberated by Council in December.
  
  
• Ward 2 (Anirniq) Councillor Erin Rutherford is targeting amplified noise in Edmonton's public spaces, with the Community and Public Services Committee passing her motion on June 29th to draft amendments to the City's public spaces bylaw aimed at reducing unnecessary noise from amplification. Committee chair Ward 12 (Sspomitapi) Councillor Jo-Anne Wright said the push stems partly from concerns voiced by downtown businesses, including about an individual who regularly uses a megaphone and amplifier near Churchill Square at lunch time to spread his religious views. City solicitor Michael Gunther cautioned that any such bylaw must be carefully prepared to avoid violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms' guarantee of free expression, though he noted municipalities may legally regulate amplification to prevent noise pollution. Administration had recommended tailoring noise limits to the distance from a doorway, but the Committee set that idea aside following a private session. Other options under consideration include requiring a permit to use amplification in public, designating specific "speakers corners", and defining disruptive noise in the bylaw itself. Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto already have rules on where and when amplification is allowed, and the proposed changes will come back for review on September 25th before any public hearing.
  
  
• The same June 29th Committee meeting also took up fireworks, where John Adria, the owner of Uncle John's Fireworks, told City Council's Community and Public Services Committee that putting restrictions on fireworks has created far more problems than it has solved. Adria argued there were no issues before the regulations changed in 2019, and that permit conditions are now so tough that community groups have no legal path to holding the displays they safely ran for decades. He pointed to Saskatoon, which allows fireworks use by all adults without restrictions on several days each year, and suggested Edmonton's red tape is contributing to racism against southeast Asian communities, who he says get blamed whenever fireworks are used illegally. Chief bylaw enforcement officer David Jones told the Committee that fireworks complaints to 311 have increased 1,400% since 2020. After a home burned down during Diwali last year, the City is trying to chart a path that allows fireworks during the November holiday while ensuring fire safety, with Administration proposing to contribute $20,000 from the City's anti-racism fund toward one or more community-based celebrations. A representative of the Edmonton Diwali celebration steering committee urged members to proceed with a celebration at Mill Woods Park, which they declined to do, and Committee chair Ward 12 (Sspomitapi) Councillor Jo-Anne Wright said she was disappointed there was no bylaw review - though the Committee will review the City's fireworks rules in September.
  
  
• The City of Edmonton has opened a new impound lot near 122nd Street and 124th Avenue to help clear a backlog of hundreds of abandoned vehicles left on streets, alleys, and parking lots. The City and Edmonton police stopped towing cars earlier this year after the main impound lot filled up, and an overflow parcel is unavailable until December because construction crews are using it as a staging area for the Yellowhead Trail freeway conversion. The new lot can handle about 150 vehicles, but almost 400 are on the list to be towed. Ward 2 (Anirniq) Councillor Erin Rutherford says requests for parking enforcement have risen 45% in the last two years, and she doubts the new lot will solve the problem in the long term. As of June 26th, 362 abandoned vehicles were in the towing queue, down from 693 a month earlier, with crews moving 10 to 15 vehicles a day. Rutherford wrote to the Edmonton Police Commission in April urging it to relocate the tow lot to a larger site as a capital project in the next four-year budget, but the Commission says the current lot provides "suitable functionality" for the foreseeable future.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

Administration says Edmonton faces a $10 billion infrastructure renewal gap over the next decade.

What's more important - keeping taxes low or investing more in infrastructure renewal?

Do you think it has to be a choice or can Council stop spending on pet projects?

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

This week's sponsor is you! We don't have big corporate backers, so if you like what you're reading, please consider making a donation or signing up as a monthly member.

Having said that, if you are a local business and are interested in being a sponsor, send us an email and we'll talk!