This week, council will debate a proposed tax increase for 2025, consider changes to the zoning bylaw, and discuss a proposed tower near Clareview Transit Centre.
There is a public hearing scheduled for Nov. 12 and a city council meeting scheduled for Nov. 13.
Here are key items on this week's agenda:
- Administration has proposed an 8.1% tax increase in 2025 as the city faces an estimated $34 million deficit. Council will debate the fall budget adjustment on Nov. 13 and 14. Council tentatively approved a 7% increase earlier this year. Administration proposes an additional 1% each year for the next two years to replenish the financial stabilization reserve. The final 0.1% of the proposed increase will pay for higher-than-expected costs for the 2025 election. Council can also cut or add programs, which would change the tax increase. Administration recommends adding funding to the capital budget for neighbourhood reconstruction in Overlands, Homesteader, Hillview, and Glenwood, as well as to replace or rehabilitate the Wellington, Beverly, and Coliseum LRT bridges. Council could choose to add about $6 million to the budget to build a replacement Harbin Gate at 97 Street NW and 101A Avenue, where the original Edmonton Chinatown began. In the operating budget, there are several unfunded service packages that council has the option to add to the budget. Council may continue funding for the City Centre Optimization project, which provides enhanced cleaning services for downtown, and also extend the program to the other business improvement areas, for a total cost of about $6.4 million. There is also a $10-million service package for enhanced mowing and weeding services.
- Edmonton needs to reduce its carbon emissions by 23% below 2023 levels to reach the 2025 target laid out in the city's carbon budget. In an update to the carbon budget, set to be presented alongside the financial budgets on Nov. 13 and 14, administration said 2023's levels were 9.3% lower than the 2005 baseline levels, but not low enough to reach the budget's target. The budget's goals are divided into two categories: Corporate carbon, which consists of areas that the municipality can control like city-owned buildings and vehicles, and community carbon, which is controlled by Edmontonians at large. The community carbon level is moving in a promising direction, administration said, as the community has surpassed the 2030 energy efficiency target set in the city's energy transition strategy.
- North Pointe Developments has applied to rezone a lot near the Clareview Transit Centre to allow for a 13-storey mixed-use development, which is nearly twice as tall as what is currently allowed. The lot at the intersection of Manning Drive NW and 144 Street NW is currently zoned to allow a six-storey building with only residential units. Administration said it supports the application because it will help add more housing near mass transit, and the land north of the subject site is already zoned to allow for such a development, making the rezoning compatible. Some residents opposed the application, arguing the proposed building would be too tall for the neighbourhood. Council is set to debate the rezoning at a public hearing on Nov. 12.
Council is set to debate an 8.1% tax increase in 2025. (Mack Male/Flickr)
Here are some other items on the agenda:
- Coun. Anne Stevenson will ask administration to examine the Downtown Investment Plan, created by the Downtown Revitalization Coalition and BILD Edmonton Metro. Stevenson will request a report that details investments the city has made in downtown, itemizes what additional funding is committed for downtown, and identifies opportunities to leverage funding programs to accelerate investment in downtown.
- Beljan Development has applied to rezone the land that the historic Griesbach Barracks Physical Training Building sits on at 2775 Sir Arthur Currie Way NW to allow for adaptive reuse. The building is currently on the inventory of historic resources but has not been designated a municipal historic resource, meaning it is not legally protected from demolition. The building is notable because it is the last surviving institutional building dating to the mid-twentieth century Griesbach Barracks and the historic Canadian Forces base, and is valued for its association with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry regiment, according to a report scheduled to be presented to council at a public hearing on Nov. 12. The report said Beljan initially proposed converting the building into a specialty grocery store with a six-storey, mixed-use residential building on the site. Following community feedback, Beljan revised the plans and removed the residential building, but a non-residential building up to four storeys tall is possible if the lot is rezoned. The most common concern from nearby residents was that the proposed development would cause parking and traffic congestion.
- Administration may prepare amendments to the zoning bylaw in an attempt to improve landscaping for new developments, pending council approval. Council's urban planning committee recommended that council request the amendments at a meeting on Oct. 29. The changes would expand the landscape securities program to small-scale developments, in which the city collects a fee from developers and returns it once landscaping requirements are met. The committee also directed administration to work with city-building partners such as the Infill Development Association of Edmonton and BILD Edmonton Metro to develop training for retaining mature trees and to review the city's Complete Streets guidelines to prioritize public trees along roadways.
- Council is set to vote on closing vehicle access to several parking lots on Jasper Avenue between 114 Street NW and 124 Street NW to support the second phase of the Imagine Jasper Avenue project. The vehicle access from Jasper Avenue to parking lots connected to businesses including Japonais Bistro, Rexall Drugstore, Shoppers Drug Mart, the Esso gas station, and Revolution Cycle will be closed, pending council approval. All the parking lots that would be affected have alternative access through back alleys, a report detailing the proposed changes said. Administration plans to close vehicle access points and replace the existing sidewalks along Jasper Avenue with a boulevard walkway. The report said a boulevard will enhance pedestrian accessibility, place-making, and the urban tree canopy, improve safety, and reduce conflict with vehicle traffic along Jasper Avenue.
- Council will meet in private to discuss a collective bargaining update and a shareholder update.
Meetings stream live on YouTube on the Chamber channel and River Valley Room channel.