This week, city council committees return from spring break for their first meetings during Mayor Amarjeet Sohi’s leave of absence to run for the federal Liberal party.
There is a community and public services committee meeting scheduled for March 31. There is an executive committee meeting scheduled for March 31 with a continuation on April 2, and an urban planning committee meeting scheduled for April 1.
Here are key items on this week’s agenda:
- Councillors may debate whether they should cut funding to programs that they say fall under provincial jurisdiction, including responses to homelessness, addiction, and mental health. In July, council asked administration to work with the province to shift all related services that the city is funding but are under provincial jurisdiction back to the province. Administration projected that by the end of 2024, the city will have spent more than $43 million responding to homelessness, addiction, and mental health. The report said that while some elements of that spending increased in 2024, municipal spending on short-term emergency shelters, day services, and addictions support has decreased, resulting in an overall decrease in city spending to respond to homelessness. The report is scheduled to be presented at a community and public services committee meeting on March 31, during which members could direct council to ask administration to cut funding to programs.
- Administration will ask council’s executive committee to approve amendments to Valley Line LRT agreements with AECOM Canada Ltd., Ernst & Young Orenda Corporate Finance Inc., and an external law firm. A report said the agreements are for engineering, financial, and legal services, and that the amendments are within the approved capital budgets. Administration recommends that details for the amendments be kept private. Executive committee is scheduled to review the changes at a meeting on March 31.
- The city has funded $443 million in infrastructure improvements through the downtown community revitalization levy (CRL), which spurred more than $4.7 billion in new development, a report scheduled to be presented to council’s executive committee said. The Quarters CRL has funded $100 million in improvements, attracting more than $550 million in development, while the Belvedere CRL has funded about $30 million in improvements and attracted $100 million in development. The report, a scheduled annual review of CRLs, does not factor in the proposed extension of the downtown CRL to fund a proposed event park beside Rogers Place, among other projects. CRLs are tools for municipalities to rejuvenate underdeveloped areas by allowing public infrastructure investments to attract private investments that can repay the public investment. Within the levy area, a baseline property assessment is established, and for up to 20 years, increases in property tax revenue above that baseline resulting from new development and property value growth, go toward the CRL. That means new developments essentially repay for infrastructure investments. The report said ongoing municipal tax revenues should cover the investments made in the respective CRL areas by the late 2030s.
Edmonton city council in chambers on March 25, 2025. (Stephanie Swensrude)
Here are other items on the agenda:
- Administration has prepared two proposed amendments to the zoning bylaw to regulate homeless shelters where people sleep in a common room. The first proposed change would remove the size limit for shelters proposed in the business employment zone but restrict shelters from locating beside a heavy industrial property. The second change would limit congregate sleeping areas to a capacity of 125 people, or more in emergency situations. Administration said it does not support the second proposed amendment because it would be a layer of red tape for shelter providers. Council’s urban planning committee is scheduled to review the amendments at meeting on April 1. Administration will bring the first proposed amendment to a public hearing but will require council direction to do the same with the second proposed amendment.
- Executive committee will be asked to recommend changes to the city’s public engagement policy at a meeting on March 31. The city is required to review the policy every four years. A key proposed change is to add phrasing about a “data-driven approach” and the “responsible use of city resources” within the requirements section. The report detailing the proposed changes said this change is meant to reflect the city’s current fiscal realities.
- Administration has developed two grant programs meant to encourage new stores. The proposed programs are meant to replace the development incentive program, which closed in 2023. The first program would offer up to $30,000 for interior renovations to vacant ground-floor commercial units, while the second would offer up to $400,000 per year to support the construction of new commercial and mixed-use developments. The proposed programs are set to be presented to council’s executive committee at a meeting on March 31. Executive committee may make a recommendation and send the decision to a future council meeting for a vote.
- Administration will ask council’s executive committee to approve a sole-source contract with ATCO to move two of the utility company’s high-pressure gas pipelines near the Capital Line South LRT extension. The contract is worth up to $2 million. As ATCO is the owner and operator of the pipelines, no third-party vendors are authorized to move them, according to a report scheduled to be presented to executive committee on March 31.
- Executive committee will review a bylaw that would close two parking lot entrances to facilitate active transportation infrastructure. Administration recommends closing one access point to a visitor parking lot at W.P. Wagner High School on Wagner Road NW, and one access point to a parking lot at 10410 Allendale Road NW. If executive committee approves the bylaw, it will be sent to a future city council meeting.
- Administration will seek approval to sell a parcel of land in the Heritage Valley Town Centre neighbourhood. Executive committee must approve or deny the sale because it is higher than administration’s delegated authority of $5 million.
- Executive committee will meet in private to receive an update on an unspecified major project.
- Administration said it will allocate the Ozerna surplus school site to Conseil scolaire Centre-Nord for a francophone school.
Meetings stream live on YouTube on the Chamber channel and River Valley Room channel.