Garneau Priority Growth Area Update from Councillor Janz
The league received the following update by e-mail week from Councillor Michael Janz
I wanted to provide a brief update on the Priority Growth Area rezoning work and what I’ve been hearing as your city councilor.
While any vote on the priority growth area work is likely not until next year, I wanted to give you a sense of what I’m advocating for based on the feedback received. Thank you to each of you who has emailed, called and met with me to discuss what this may look like. If you don’t see your perspective reflected here, please reach out to my office. Please consider this a brief, pre-council update.
What I’ve heard:
Across the city–including from Garneau– there is general agreement in my inbox that the city needs to densify, curb sprawl, and build up-not-out. The challenge is always in the particulars of what, where, how, and when.
I believe generally what has been shared by the Garneau Community League could meet many of the objectives of the City Plan as well as reflect the voices of many in the community.
Generally, I’ve been hearing a lot of agreement about a number of items. For Garneau, we all love and care about our walkability, heritage, our trees, our access to services, and many amenities. We love our beautiful neighbourhood. Based on the feedback received, we also tend to agree that…
There is actually limited development potential along much of the Garneau area, once you consider and exclude heritage homes, the heritage DC1, existing lots already up-zoned, or brand new homes constructed. (eg, no one is going to tear down the brand new builds). This is especially true in North Garneau and south of Whyte Ave.
There is significant development potential along Whyte Ave and 109 street and among vacant lots and problem properties in the area.
There is some opportunity on 87th ave between 109/110th.
There is significant development potential in East Garneau (109th)
We would like to see more family friendly units in new developments, including in apartment buildings or multiplexes
We don’t want to see any pits or holes (such as the Knox Met site)
If there are limited infrastructure dollars to be spent from the Housing Accelerator Fund, where is the best opportunity to get the most new homes? (Likely East Garneau, 82nd, and 109th.)
What I’m doing:
Following the Garneau Planning Committee meeting I joined Monday, August 26th, I met with the municipal planning team and relayed the feedback shared. I shared your concerns raised via emailing with me and those shared at the meeting.
Planners indicated that they will be creating a “What we’ve heard report” this fall that would inform any changes recommended to Council. The Council meeting to consider these changes is not expected until the new year. Administration seemed to generally agree with many of the limitations and opportunities I highlighted in the Garneau area. I do not get the impression that a blanket rezoning will be recommended, but rather a more focused look at areas of shared opportunity.
As I shared at the meeting, you can’t make a home from a rezoning alone, and that a rezoning that doesn’t actually result in new homes, is just an action on paper. Edmonton is growing 5% a year, and the U of A is a major driver, so helping guide development in a way that fits the context of the community (such as the new Eleanor and Laurent buildings) can help solve our climate and housing emergency while continuing to preserve what we love about living in Garneau.
Next steps:
When I hear more, I’ll share more. Once that report is received, I suggest we evaluate, meet again and then discuss suggestions to raise with other council members and the Mayor.
Background From Me:
I’ve wrote about how the U of A, one of the main drivers of the growth in our area, needs to do more with their land: https://www.michaeljanz.ca/maincampushousingoptions
Can we build neighborhoods out of underutilized big box retail? I made a video about commercial opportunities for redevelopment here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtuOKLI9ef8&t=2s
Background from the Planning Department:
(italicized responses to some of your questions which are highlighted in bold)
How many children currently live in Garneau?
As of 2021, Garneau was home to 345 children, up slightly from 320 in 2016. This figure is higher than seen in nearby Windsor Park (240) and McKernan (315), but lower than Queen Alexandra (445) and Strathcona (690). Comparable neighbourhoods in terms of density, such as Boyle Street and Wihkwentowin (Oliver), were home to 565 and 840 children respectively.
Will property tax increase with rezoning?
Property taxes are based on City Council’s budget decisions and the change in a property’s assessed value relative to other properties in the City. An increase in a property’s assessment value does not necessarily result in a tax increase, but can when that property increases at a faster rate than the overall market. Under circumstances where a property’s value increases at a faster rate due to market forces, the City does not collect any additional tax revenue, but simply redistributes the budget requirement across a revised assessment base.
The City assesses and taxes properties according to provincial legislation and City’s Tax Bylaw. Tax class is driven by a property’s use. If there is no existing use on a vacant property they are assigned a tax class based on their prospective use, which is informed by zoning, subdivision plans, development plans and permits.
The City of Edmonton is legislatively required to assess all property at its market value on an annual basis. Assessment values naturally fluctuate with market activity, and it is possible that zoning changes could impact the market. With that said, the City will not proactively increase property assessments without clear market evidence. Rather, the City will monitor how rezonings affect property sales and will reflect those market trends in subsequent assessment values.
What is the current state of the Knox, St Johns, and Hive projects?
These three properties were rezoned in 2018, 2022, and 2021 respectively. While a development permit was approved for the Knox site in 2019, no building permits have been submitted for any of these projects.
What is the average length of time between project proposal and construction?
This can vary significantly from project to project, but reviewing six recently completed large-scale developments in the area, we found that it takes on average four and a half years from the submission of a rezoning application to a completed development. When the rezoning timeline is removed, we still see an average of three years and four months for a project to finish construction.
What are some of the trade offs between using Direct Control Zones compared to a blanket standard zoning approach?
Edmonton, much like the rest of the country, is facing a housing crisis. In response, City Council declared a housing emergency in January of this year and an agreement was reached with the federal government in February to eliminate barriers to building housing. The Priority Growth Area Rezoning project is one of the milestones under this Housing Accelerator Fund.
Urban development is a slow process, often taking years or even decades to come to fruition. Currently, many of the City's key nodes and corridors are under-zoned when compared to The City Plan and District Plan’s vision for these significant locations. By rezoning large portions of a node or corridor with standard zones, we avoid a piecemeal approach with numerous private applications being submitted over time. This will help the City meet The City Plan’s infill goals more efficiently. When the City has proactively rezoned an area in alignment with Council-approved direction, it provides certainty to the community for the scale of development that can be expected. In order to achieve these goals this project will apply standard zones, which are less prescriptive than Direct Control zones.
The City’s new Zoning Bylaw provides standard zones that were designed to align with The City Plan and District Plans, while being flexible enough to provide options to respond to changing market trends.
Standard zones do not require community amenity contributions; however, Direct Control zone applications that trigger contributions are fairly rare. The City approved roughly 60 Direct Control Zones between 2018 and 2024, and they are even less likely to be built and provide contributions (a search found roughly a quarter having an approved development permit).
Other City teams are working to advance public amenities through policies and directions found in documents such as Breathe and The Approach to Community Recreation Facility Planning in Edmonton. Under these two examples, greater attention will be given to the quality, distribution, and diversity of amenity spaces in the redeveloping areas.
In the meantime, while change will occur gradually, additional density reduces the per capita cost of infrastructure and can result in more funding for services. For example, additional density can support more frequent transit services, which can have the effect of reducing household costs associated with personal transport. Additionally, these higher populations are attractive to businesses and can result in a wider range of local shops and services in the area.
