June 10, 2022
City Council
City of Edmonton
1 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton AB, T5J 2R7
RE: June 14, 2022, Urban Planning Committee
6.1 Growth Management Framework Update & 6.2 Tree Preservation on Private Property
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.
6.1 GROWTH MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
Past Success
IDEA’s members continue to experience challenges around infrastructure deficiencies and outdated policies and processes that were created for greenfield development. Over the past few years, we have seen significant success through the Infill Fire Protection Program (cost-share program) and associated Infill Fire Protection Assessment (site-specific review for infrastructure upgrade requirements).
These programs were both designed to tackle the high water main/hydrant upgrade costs for missing middle development, and have resulted in over 90 million dollars in infrastructure savings over three years and over 650 multi-unit homes moving forward in 2022 alone. This multi-pronged solution showcases the success that can be achieved by creating forward-thinking solutions to facilitate redevelopment in our mature and core neighbourhoods.
Next Steps
The strategies and tools we use are key to the implementation of City Plan and the achievement of our shared goals. We ask Council to use Priority Based Budgeting in our upcoming budget and support capital investment for Priority Growth Areas. We also ask Council to approve the set of infill and urban redevelopment incentives articulated in Administration's report, including tax-based grants, capital grants and funding for incentives to assist with the costs of relocations of power poles and anchors impacting the viability of the small and medium scale infill.
.We would also like to state our full support for the creation of a research plan to understand any GBA+ implications to City Plan implementation and how we can address them.
6.2 TREE PRESERVATION ON PRIVATE PROPERTY
IDEA believes that the sustainability of our city— which trees are a part of—should be viewed through a holistic, city-wide lens. As stated in Administration’s report, the technical studies that helped to create City Plan found that densification is one of the important tools through which climate change impacts can be mitigated. City Plan’s Greenhouse Gas and Energy Analysis states that the “City Plan Preferred Scenario includes an increase in the proportion of medium and high density housing in the network of nodes and corridors and a greater mixed use land uses. This efficiency in the built environment results in building energy consumption savings, improved viability of district energy, and a reduction in the number of vehicle kilometres traveled (VKT) by car. The result is a 6% per person reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2019.”
There is a demonstrated desire in the infill community to build sustainable communities and protect our urban tree canopy. IDEA has hosted six education sessions on tree protection and the value of trees. We also supported the recently approved public tree protection bylaw, and created awareness about the new process amongst our members. We believe that sustainability should be approached through multiple initiatives, including support for densification in our redeveloping neighbourhoods. The urban tree canopy can be supported through increased planting on public property, continuing to require planting of new trees on private property through Zoning Bylaw requirements for all new developments (see Table 1), and communicating the benefits of retaining mature trees to the public and development industry.
IDEA would like to thank City Administration for their continuous work in implementing City Plan. Facilitating sustainable development is key to the success of achieving our shared City Plan goals.
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, Deputy City Manager of Urban Planning and Economy and the Administration Team