Weekly Round-up (Jan 24-28, 2022)

Council had another packed week with a two-day Council meeting (Monday and Wednesday) and Public Hearing on Tuesday.

Council had another packed week with a two-day Council meeting (Monday and Wednesday) and Public Hearing on Tuesday. There were several motions on the floor that were deferred to the next Council meeting - including motions on rental regulation, excessive traffic noise, and exploration of decriminalization of minor drug offences. No decisions were made on any of these and I welcome thoughts from residents before the next Council meeting (Feb 8).

Here are a few decisions that were made this week:

DOWNTOWN PEDWAY (STATION LANDS)

The brief background on this project is that the previous Council approved funding to support a downtown pedway and public park spaces that would connect a mixed-use development (owned by Qualico) with the Churchill LRT station and the Royal Alberta Museum for public use. It was back at Council as a motion was put on the floor to reconsider this decision. I voted no to the motion on the floor, supporting the original direction. There was a lot to consider, here are a few standout points for me.

The City’s contribution Community Revitalization Levy (CRL) is a specific tax levy that is set up for certain areas with specified outcomes that must be approved by the Province. These funds cannot be transferred to other areas such as City operations like snow and ice or supportive housing. This particular CRL was set up with the expressed intent of infrastructure investment to spur investment in downtown.
This project supports densification of the downtown core with over 800 million in private investment and includes 504 dwelling units in one building permit alone.
Once 2 of the 5 towers are built, the City would recoup the investment cost alone during the lifetime of the CRL from the property taxes and then have additional revenue going forward. Therefore, the return on investment through municipal property tax generation of future revenue for the City is something I took into account.
Timing of the motion was a big factor for me. I highlighted when I spoke to this motion that I think some opportunities were missed, such as negotiating to have a percentage of the rental units be stipulated as below market rentals. However, this particular project was too far along at this point and would cause more harm to future trust in investments in the City. I voted for the City to honour the previous commitment, but I was clear in my comments during my meeting that we need to learn from this situation going forward.

BONAVENTURE INDUSTRIAL

The Public Hearing on January 25th approved all 3 readings for a zoning application for Bonaventure Industrial - located in Ward Anirniq. The approval now allows for a wider range of business uses on this parcel. There were no speakers in opposition of this zoning change.

ORANGE HUB PARKING

Orange Hub is a building along Stony Plain Road that hosts several non-profit organizations. The decision before Council was in regard to the above-ground parking structure which fell into disrepair and is not safe for current use.

Phase 1 of this rehabilitation project was already completed in 2018 and Council was now looking at Phase 2 - deciding on design options;

Underground Parkade - 200 stalls ($35 million)
Above Ground Parkade 181 stalls ($14 million)
Surface Parking Lot - 60 stalls ($5 million)

I voted in favour of the Above Ground Parkade (naturally ventilated). There was great discussion on holding off rehabilitation until further options for future investment could be explored; however, given that this parkade is in such disrepair now, and many individuals are already experiencing reduced accessibility to the building, the sooner we can rehabilitate the structure the better. Additionally, I considered all the time, money and resources that have already gone into the project.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!