Edmonton Minute: Waste Collection, Water Bills, and a Substantial Completion Standard

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

This Week In Edmonton:

• Tomorrow, there will be an Agenda Review Committee meeting at 8:30 am, followed by a meeting of the Utility Committee at 9:30 am. At the latter meeting, the Committee will discuss the Epcor Performance Based Regulation Report, which provides the annual financial and operational results for Water, Wastewater Treatment, and Drainage Services for 2022. The report notes that last year, the average residential customer’s monthly bill for water services came in at $41.90, an increase of $2.75 (7.0%) from 2021. The Committee will also receive a report on the implementation of the bylaw banning single-use items. The report notes that “early feedback observed on social media trended negative” but “news stories and inquiries were neutral in tone.” Sounds like the people actually impacted by it aren’t happy…
  
  
• On Wednesday, at 9:30 am, there will be a Special City Auditor Recruitment Committee meeting. As you can probably imagine, the Committee will discuss recruitment of a City Auditor. The meeting will be held in-camera. Later in the day, at 1:30 pm, there will be a Non-Regular Meeting of City Council. At this meeting, Council will discuss Pre-Budget Submissions to the Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada. It’s a private report, so we can’t say for sure just how much cash the City is asking for.
  
  
• Edmonton’s Mountain Bike Festival takes place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Queen Elizabeth Park. There are activities for the whole family, including group rides based on ability, food trucks, races, and a BMX jumping competition. Keep in mind that if you’d like to participate in the group rides or races, you have to register in advance. If you're feeling really adventurous, you can sign up for an overnight group ride where you bike to a campsite, stay overnight, and bike back the next morning. The Festival Guide is available online.

Last Week In Edmonton:

• Councillors discussed a new “substantial completion standard” to manage the city’s growth. At the Urban Planning Committee meeting, the City’s Urban Planning and Economy Department pitched a standard that would require all developing areas to have amenities like retail stores, parks, and in some cases, schools, libraries, and rec centres, before the City approves any further developments. Councillors expressed various concerns about urban sprawl - including the cost to provide services to new communities. Edmonton needs more houses. Council should get out of the way, let them get built, and if they stopped spending money on pet projects, they'd have money for core services like libraries! 
  
  
• The City has decided to expand its food waste collection program to condos, apartments, row-houses, and multi-unit buildings. Residents will get green pails for food waste beginning in October. The program will first roll out to those living in the southeast, and a phased rollout will see it in all neighbourhoods by the end of 2027. Some condo managers are concerned about having to maintain the bins, and the smell and bugs they might bring. They are also concerned that residents haven’t received enough communication about the new program. If you live in a multi-unit building, there’s an online map that lets you put in your address to see exactly when you’ll be impacted.
  
  
• Edmonton’s Animal Care and Control Centre has halted the intake of healthy dogs, due to capacity issues, for the first time in its 30-year operational history. Dogs that are injured or in immediate distress will still be taken in, but the City-funded facility is triaging the animals until there is more kennel space. There’s been a big spike in abandoned pets due to inflation, and the affordability and availability of pet-friendly housing.

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