ON THE AGENDA

Stephanie Swensrude

This week, Edmonton city council will discuss rezoning applications in the new neighbourhood of Gorman and the old neighbourhood of Garneau, as well as in the Girard Industrial area for a wellness facility.

There is a public hearing on Aug. 17, a council meeting on Aug. 18 and 19, and a special city council meeting on Aug. 21.

Here are some key items on the agenda this week:

• Council will review broad planning documents for the future Gorman neighbourhood in north Edmonton, which is envisioned as a transit-oriented community built around an LRT stop. The developer proposed amendments to the area structure plan and neighbourhood structure plan to re-designate some areas for higher density than what is currently allowed. Administration said the application is an improvement to the plan because it maintains the NSP’s vision of a transit-oriented community while providing more opportunities for medium- and high-density uses in logical areas served by amenities.
• The Hope Mission has submitted a rezoning application for a lot at 7011 Girard Road NW, to allow for an emergency shelter and wellness facility that would support up to 125 people experiencing homelessness. Some nearby residents said they oppose the facility because they think it would bring crime to the area; they also cited the site’s proximity to Pure Casino Edmonton on Argyll Road as well as liquor and cannabis stores, which could conflict with the path to recovery for occupants.
• Council will review a rezoning application for a property in Garneau that would allow for increased site coverage, an additional 2.5 metres in building height, and a reduced rear setback. Administration said it supports the application because the scale of development is appropriate within the University major node and provides additional housing units near local businesses, open space, school sites, and active transportation. Some Garneau residents said they oppose the rezoning because the proposed development would alter the historic character of the area and preempt the Garneau Community League’s pending proposal to designate part of the neighbourhood as a special character heritage area.

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• City Council holds a public hearing today at 9:30 am, with 19 planning and rezoning bylaws on the agenda. The most contested is a Hope Mission application to rezone 7011 Girard Road NW from medium industrial to business employment so that an existing thrift store building can be converted into a permanent emergency shelter and wellness facility for up to 125 people. Of the 33 responses the City received from the 72 nearby property owners it notified, 32 opposed the rezoning, and none supported it, with the concerns raised most often being public safety and crime, the site's position beside a heavy rail corridor, and the effect on the economic viability of surrounding businesses. Administration supports the application, arguing the business employment zone was designed as a buffer between industrial and non-industrial uses and that the site's industrial capacity would not meaningfully shrink. Also on the agenda are rezonings for small- to medium-scale housing in Garneau, Central McDougall, Fulton Place, and Carlton, a small commercial centre in Tipaskan, and an amendment that shifts responsibility for several arterial road upgrades in the Castle Downs area from the City onto developers. 
• City Council meets tomorrow at 9:30 am, and ten Councillor motions are queued for debate. Ward 3 (tastawiyiniwak) Councillor Karen Principe wants Administration to report on how infill housing affects surrounding property values, a motion she first gave notice of in June and which was laid over from the July meeting. Ward 10 (Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi) Councillor Jon Morgan is asking for an unfunded capital profile for a fare gate pilot at one or more LRT stations to be considered during the 2027-2030 budget deliberations, along with five years of monthly ridership, fare compliance and on-time performance data for the high floor LRT. Ward 6 (Métis) Councillor Ashley Salvador is seeking analysis of new off-site levies to help pay for facilities and infrastructure in the City's future growth area, and a separate memo on enforcement of the Centre City Temporary Parking Program, including how many downtown surface lots are still operating without a valid development permit. Ward 8 (papastew) Councillor Michael Janz wants options for protecting neighbouring properties during construction, including shoring, plus an update on the centralized infill inquiry line run through 311. The meeting is scheduled to carry over to Wednesday at 9:30 am if the agenda is not finished.
• Four borrowing bylaws also come before City Council tomorrow, all flowing from budget adjustments Council approved in June. One would raise the borrowing authority for the downtown Community Revitalization Levy projects by $1.85 million, from $54.28 million to $56.13 million, to cover a net $2.97-million cost increase driven mainly by a new streetscape project at 103A Avenue and 99 Street that carries a total cost of $23.50 million. A second adds the $14.52-million rehabilitation of Fire Station 22 in Wîhkwêntôwin to the City's climate resilient facility upgrades borrowing, funded in part by $2.50 million of tax-supported debt shifted out of another project in the same bylaw, and pushing that group of projects from $118.03 million to $124.41 million. A third reduces borrowing for planning and design work on the same downtown levy program. The fourth would authorize $704,059 in tax-supported debt for the Gariepy neighbourhood and alley renewal, a project now costed at $34.39 million, and it receives first reading only tomorrow before returning to Council on October 27th.
• The City of Edmonton has expanded its order of new high-floor rail cars for the Capital and Metro lines from 32 to 40, at a total cost of $368 million. The cars will be built by the Hyundai Rotem Company, which is also supplying the low-floor trains for the Valley Line, with design and manufacturing to begin later this year and delivery expected by 2030. They will replace the Siemens U2 cars that have been running since the system opened for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, one of which has logged more than two million kilometers. LRT expansion and renewal branch manager Bruce Ferguson said the City increased the order because buying additional vehicles now is cheaper than adding them later if demand turns out to be higher than projected. The new trains are timed to arrive with the first phase of the Capital Line's southern extension, a $1.38-billion project that will run 4.5 kilometers to the Heritage Valley Transit Centre by 2029 and includes an underpass at 23 Avenue and two new bridges.
• Elsewhere on the transit file, City Councillors on the Community and Public Services Committee decided last Monday to explore offering naloxone training to Edmonton transit inspectors, who are not currently among the staff issued the overdose-reversal drug. Ward 10 (Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi) Councillor Jon Morgan, who worked as a transit inspector before his election, put the proposal forward and said he wished he had more tools to respond to overdoses. Administration had prepared a report warning that administering naloxone carries risks for employees, including exposure to opioids and drug paraphernalia, potentially violent reactions from people who receive it, and occupational health and legal implications. Several speakers pushed back on that assessment, including a nurse who told the Committee she has reversed more than 100 opioid poisonings without ever encountering a violent reaction. The report noted that Calgary, Toronto, and Strathcona County take approaches similar to Edmonton's, and that sworn police officers in Calgary and Edmonton are already trained and encouraged to administer the drug