In 2024, Taproot reported on several stories that continued to evolve after we published them. Here are some updates.
Service providers partner, move, face barriers
The original stories: In 2024, we noticed two trends among social service providers in Edmonton. Some partnered to improve their work, while some tried to expand out of the downtown to serve different areas of the city. In April, Boyle Street Community Services took over the day-to-day operation of the CHEW Project, as the centre struggled with staffing and new requirements, and Youth Empowerment and Support Services also provided specialized training. This happened as Boyle Street was operating from a hodgepodge of locations in the inner city after leaving its former building just north of Rogers Place. In January, Boyle Street's Elliott Tanti told Taproot the move actually streamlined services for the people that the different providers serve in overlapping ways. For example, Boyle Street moved its triage program to a Bissell Centre building, where clients could also meet a housing or youth services worker, or retrieve mail, a bus pass, or pet food. As for services moving out of the inner city, in January the George Spady Society successfully applied to move its medically supported detox program to a building beside the Jasper Place Transit Centre. Around the same time, Boyle Street appeared before the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board to reapply for a permit to open an overdose prevention site in Ritchie. The SDAB had denied Boyle Street a permit because the proposed building wasn't universally accessible. Boyle Street reapplied after adding a ramp to the proposed building's design.
Then what? The CHEW Project's partnership with Boyle Street and YESS has allowed it to expand hours and even consider an outpost in Calgary. Meanwhile, Boyle Street's Ritchie overdose prevention site stalled. In May, some Ritchie residents opposed the project at an SDAB hearing, and in June, the SDAB denied Boyle Street's permit once again, this time because it didn't adhere to Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles. Boyle Street dropped the project in December.
What's next? Boyle Street will recombine its services in central Edmonton once the King Thunderbird Centre opens in 2025. The organization, meanwhile, has said little about its project in Ritchie since dropping it in December, but the provincial ministry of mental health and addiction said that because "development permits have been repeatedly denied or revoked by the city's Subdivision Appeal Board, Boyle Street is no longer moving forward with their application and Alberta's government is no longer providing funding for the opening of a new drug consumption site in the Strathcona area." In Jasper Place, the George Spady Society's medically supported detox program is scheduled to move to its new location in the first half of 2025.- Stephanie Swensrude
City continues Chinatown investments
The original story: In March, Taproot reported that most of the City of Edmonton's $1 million Chinatown Recovery Fund was awarded to security efforts. The city's Brett Latchford said one of the fund's goals was vibrancy, though $622,000 went towards installing security upgrades like roll shutters at businesses. William Lau, who has worked with both the Chinatown Transformation Collaborative and YEG Chinatown Re:VITA, said the emphasis on security was due to community demand. Latchford, meanwhile, discussed a Chinatown Vibrancy Fund.
Then what? In April, the city launched a $480,000 Chinatown Vibrancy Fund. The recipients were announced in October. The funds were reallocated from the Downtown Vibrancy Fund, based on a motion by Coun. Keren Tang. The largest investment was $90,000 for two years of the Chinatown Summer Festival, held by the Edmonton Chinatown BIA; the smallest was $7,000 for the Chinatown Peace Walk with Indigenous Elders, also held by the BIA. Close to $41,000 was invested in Azure Dragon of the East, the second in a four-part mural series by Busyrawk. That mural is now complete. Another project, the $20,000 Chinatown Chow Down by Linda Hoang, is running until April. Taproot covered vibrancy updates that happened outside the fund, too: Stories on the imminent opening of Boa & Hare, the June opening of Little Bon Bon by the team behind Yelo'd, and a storytelling map led by Emily Chu.
What's next? Many of the projects that received funding have yet to be executed. Chinatown Dining Week is back from Jan. 16 to 26. The BIA will organize Lunar New Year celebrations, and the Van bLoc Party by Van Loc will have a special edition during the Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival. Busyrawk's next mural, Black Tortoise of the North, is in concept development. Some of the roll shutters in the area will be beautified through a BIA-led project. Plus, Tang's successful motionincludes another $480,000 for Chinatown vibrancy in 2025, plus the same amount in 2026. - Colin Gallant
Strathcona County affordable housing development faces delay after delay
The original story: In 2024, an affordable housing development at the old Clover Bar Lodge in Strathcona County that has been in the works since 2022 faced delays. As Taproot noted in a March newsletter, some residents attended a public hearing in February to speak against Heartland Housing Foundation's development at 100 Fir Street. The development had already been reduced to 115 units from 200 units due to its size and potential impact on parking, mature trees, and neighbourhood character, but opponents wanted the building's scope to be further reduced. Council voted 5-4 to send Heartland back to the drawing board to address resident concerns, but the motion was later rescinded because one councillor had voted in error. This sparked a special March 12 meeting, where council voted 5-4 to reopen readings of the rezoning bylaw. On April 9, council voted 5-4 to approve the rezoning, which now included 126 parking stalls both on the surface and underground.
Then what? Heartland told Strathcona County council that requiring underground parking would make the project unviable as it would add about $4.5 million to the cost. The foundation proposed surface parking, which would require a reduction of up to 20 units in the development. Ward 4 Coun. Bill Tonita said he was concerned to see the number of units decrease again. "We have a real shortage of affordable housing. We have a project that we've been working on and we've seen it whittled back from where we initially began and we've seen it come back several times," Tonita said. "When we take 20 or 25 (units) off of this list, to me, that's 25 families that we cannot house."
What's next? There's no set date for a public hearing to further reduce the number of units, but county staff said the rezoning timeline could take about three months. Heartland said it plans to host more public consultations this year. Ward 2 Coun. Dave Anderson said he didn't want the project to come back even smaller at the next meeting. "I don't want this coming back to us again, to be sitting here in four months from now (and hear), 'The cost of construction went up and we need to make the project even smaller.' It puts it in a really precarious situation for me and I'm really struggling." - Stephanie Swensrude