Edmonton's newly-elected city council used some of its first public meetings to set a new tone as compared to its predecessor, the co-hosts of Episode 333 of Speaking Municipally discussed. Here's a snapshot.
The tone on the zone
Edmonton's previous council gained a reputation, founded or otherwise, for rubber stamping residential infill applications from developers in mature neighbourhoods. Co-host Stephanie Swensrude noted the new council was eager to assert a new tone on infill in particular during its first public rezoning application.
The application, located in the Mayfield neighbourhood, itself in the Nakota Isga ward, saw near every councillor chime in, Swensrude noted, which is not common. The application was to shift from the existing small scale residential zone, which allows up to 10 housing units, to an even more permissive zone. But the applicant told council the application is to not increase the number of housing units but, instead, to make them have more usable space.
Swensrude said the council was not swayed, and offered a lot of feedback to the applicant. "It really felt like (they were) trying to set the tone," Swensrude said, adding that Coun. Reed Clarke was "grilling" the developer on why they needed new zoning if they could already build 10 units. "And because it was pretty much the first rezoning application of the term, I'm pretty sure every councillor spoke to it when they were doing the last round of voting, which is not typical. Normally not every councillor speaks, but I think people wanted to put a word out there."
Private trees
Swensrude noted that Mayor Andrew Knack introduced a motion on infill that, in part, included a call for administration to look at how to support the maintenance and retention of trees on private property during infill construction.
Co-host Mack Male noted that the previous council had already asked for such a report, and that that group had itself earned another reputation — as a newbie council that asked for reports and recommendations "that maybe didn't need a report or that maybe had already been decided." He added, "That's perhaps not quite what's happening here, especially given that this is related to infill and is something that has come up quite a bit. But we shouldn't be making inquiries and re-asking for reports about the same stuff over and over again, right?"
Kendal and 41 Ave. SW
Another new tone was set by Ward Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi Coun. Jon Morgan in discussing growth in the city's southwest, via a rezoning hearing for tracts of land for what will eventually become the neighbourhood of Kendal.
Swensrude said Morgan, who told Taproot after his win that improvements to 41 Avenue SW are one of his main goals, questioned city administration on why roadway improvements were not discussed before the application to move ahead a new neighbourhood was put to a vote.
"Councillor Morgan was basically asking, 'Why were improvements to 41 Avenue SW not considered before approving the plans for Kendal?,'" she said. "It's a legacy issue, right? It an unfortunate thing that council can't really do anything about it now. They can't really go back in time and approve changes, but I think he was trying to almost make a point and say, 'Hey, I disagree with this.'"
The Nov. 21 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast also includes discussion of public-private partnerships, traffic safety and Vision Zero, and more. Listening and subscription options are all right here.