On the agenda: A new park, esports, and transit safety

This week, there's a public hearing on April 3 and a city council meeting on April 4, with a continuation scheduled for April 5 if required.

Here are some of the key items on the agenda:

• If approved, a rezoning application for the site at 10540 112 Street NW in Queen Mary Park would allow for the development of a mixed-use, high-density development and a new public park. The development would consist mostly of mid-rise buildings up to seven storeys in height, but one high-rise tower would be about 20 storeys. The creation of the park would satisfy the required $548,572.05 in public amenity contributions.
• Coun. Andrew Knack is expected to make two motions: one directing administration to work with external stakeholders such as BOMA Edmonton and the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce to request financial incentives from the province for the conversion of office buildings into residential buildings downtown; and another requesting an engagement session with the Edmonton Screen Industries Office and other stakeholders to review the Alberta Esports Strategy, develop a plan for Edmonton to host a mid-sized esports event in the next one to two years, and review the existing strategy to attract interactive digital media investment.
• Two councillors published blog posts this weekend about transit safety in the city. Coun. Tim Cartmell wrote that an upcoming bystander awareness campaign "sounds like lip service" and said that the mayor and council must take safety concerns "much more seriously." Coun. Andrew Knack agreed that more needs to happen, but called on the province to follow through on implementing its own recommendations for things like minimum shelter standards, supportive housing, and addictions treatment. Without provincial action to help address root causes, "we will need to look at spending even more on enforcement," he cautioned.

Several committee recommendations will be considered:

• Community and public services committee recommends advocating to the provincial government after the upcoming election to host a joint meeting with school boards to discuss the joint use agreement; advocating to the provincial government for the exploration of additional supports for mobile-home tenants; and approval of Edmonton Arts Council grants for 2023.
• Urban planning committee recommends giving appropriate readings to the bylaw to update the designated driver service section of the Business Licence Bylaw and giving appropriate readings to the omnibus amendment of the Business Licence Bylaw.

Here are some of the other new agenda items:

• A number of borrowing bylaws will be considered, including:
  • $240.5 million for light rail vehicle replacements
  • $53 million for climate-resilient city facility upgrades
  • $22 million for revitalization in Balwin and Belvedere
  • $20 million for the preliminary design of the Blatchford-to-Campbell-Road LRT extension
  • $14.7 million for the Blatchford renewable energy project
  • $3.7 million for the landfill gas to renewable natural gas project
  • $750,000 for transportation planning and growth
• A rezoning application would amend the Windermere Area Structure Plan and the Keswick Neighbourhood Structure Plan to allow for low-density, multi-unit housing on undeveloped land in Keswick. If approved, the density of the neighbourhood would increase slightly from what was originally planned.

Meetings are streamed live on YouTube on the Chamber channel and River Valley Room channel.