District Planning Update
The City of Edmonton has released the draft District Policy and Plans, in which Garneau is listed as a major node. What this means is that upzoning will generally be supported by council; If a proposal has multiple dwellings it is likely to be approved.
With this plan there is no effort by the City to ensure family-oriented housing is promoted or encouraged in Garneau. Market forces will dictate how Garneau will grow, and due to the proximity of the University of Alberta it is expected that more and more student housing will be built without consideration for other demographics such as families and seniors in the neighbourhood.
Public Hearing: May 28-30, 2024
City Council will consider the proposed District Policy and 15 district plans, as well as the existing geographic plans proposed to be retired or changed, at a statutory City Council Public Hearing scheduled for May 28-30, 2024.
The agenda for the hearing is now available and the following items are relevant to The Garneau:
3.33 Charter Bylaw 24010 - Scona District Plan
Charter Bylaw 24010 and Bylaw 24110 will be dealt with together
Report - UPE02188 - Charter Bylaw 24010 - Scona District Plan.pdf
Attachment 1 Charter Bylaw 24010 - A Bylaw to adopt the Scona District Plan.pdf
3.34 Bylaw 24110 - To Repeal Plans in the Scona District
Charter Bylaw 24010 and Bylaw 24110 will be dealt with together
Report - UPE02189 - Bylaw 24110 - Repeal of Plans in the Scona District.pdf
Attachment 1 Bylaw 24110 - A Bylaw to repeal plans in the Scona District.pdf
Learn More and Register to Speak
We just published a message from the City, District Planning Public Hearing – Help Spread the Word!, that provides a guide to digging into the details on District Planning as well as detailed instructions on how to register to speak.
Members of the planning committee will also be registering to speak on behalf of The Garneau and will be asking Council to:
Support increased density in the District Plan but direct administration to complete more nuanced planning in Garneau due to the unique pressures in our community that pushes primarily student housing and limits other demographics. There is a lot of student housing in Garneau and that will continue, but ensuring that housing supply accommodates other demographics is critically important for community vibrancy.
Suggest that planning consider custom zoning to encourage family housing (we will present a definition) to achieve a target of 10% of the population as kids under 14 (it’s currently 6%).
Suggest that further planning consider no boarding houses in the DC1 Heritage Area or currently zoned RS zones and consider limiting building form to row housing, duplexes, and fourplexes with a requirement for family amenities. In this way small pockets of housing in Garneau will continue to promote families, which are an integral and disappearing part of Garneau and were a key part of GARP (which is being repealed).
Suggest that buildings within .8 km of Garneau School should have high density family units in accordance with guidelines adopted in other Canadian Cities such as Vancouver. This can be applied to smaller scale housing as well.
This is a pivotal time for Garneau and it is of the utmost importance that community members sign up to speak up at the public hearing for the importance of keeping families, seniors, and a range of housing types (including small scale and multi-unit) in our community. Feel free to reach out to planning-committee@thegarneaucommunityleague.com with questions or to let us know if you’re planning to speak at the public hearing.
