The City released its proposed 2016-2018 Operating Budget today, something that Council will start discussing in the days ahead.

“The City of Edmonton’s proposed 2016-2018 Operating Budget recommends a 4.9 per cent general property tax increase in 2016 for all civic operations. Similar increases are proposed for the budgets in the second and third years. The proposed budget holds the tax increase for all civic operations to 2.5 per cent.”

For the typical household (a single-family dwelling with an assessed value of $401,000), that would mean an increase of $109 in 2016, $114 in 2017 and $120 in 2018.

Photo by City of Edmonton

The City says it has “restrained base operating costs” and has found some savings as part of Council’s 2%:

“The City’s efforts to find efficiencies and innovation has identified $29.9 million in operating savings or cost avoidance for 2016. Of that, $10.1 million is being made available for Council to reallocate to areas of greater priority.”

You can learn more about the budget here, and you can fill out the online survey to provide your input by November 14.

Here’s my look at what Council will be discussing in the week ahead.

Meetings this week

• November 2 at 1:30pm – City Council Public Hearing
• November 3 at 9:30am – City Council Meeting

You can always see the latest City Council meetings on ShareEdmonton.

2016-2018 Operating Budget

The public release of the proposed budget is a big step forward toward approval, but it’s only a step. A non-statutory public hearing will be held on November 23, offering the public a chance to speak to the budget. Council deliberations will take place from November 27 to December 10, after which Council will have approved the budget and all amendments.

This is the first time the City is planning its Operating Budget on a three-year basis. The City provides these three reasons for the change:

• Stability: Planning a budget over multiple years allows Council and Administration to take a ‘longer view’ of Edmonton’s needs, and build out stable program and service delivery. This allows Edmonton to better plan stable revenues and expenditures, providing consistent funding levels for the programs and services Edmontonians expect.
• Flexibility: Multi-year budget planning allows the City to be more flexible in how it finances operations, allowing Council and Administration to reallocate funding priorities across the different years of the longer budget cycle. This enables the City to bring in programs and services when they are most needed, and to adapt to the ever-changing needs of our city.
• Future Planning: As one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities, Edmonton needs to be able to plan for its future vision while also meeting its present day demands. Multi-year budgeting permits Council and Administration to implement or revise programs and services over a longer time frame, rather than being limited to yes/no decisions on a yearly basis. This means, for example, if a new program or service doesn’t fit into this year’s budget cycle, it can still be planned for a later year.

I think another benefit of a three-year budget is that Administration should be able to save much of the time, money, and stress that goes into preparing the budget every year. The budget dominates much of the City’s work through November and December.

Stay tuned, there will be much more budget discussion to come in the weeks ahead!

Augustana Redevelopment

Bylaw 17423 will rezone the property at 9901 107 Street downtown from CMU to DC2, to make way for Pangman Development’s planned Augustana Redevelopment (which you can learn more about here on SkysraperPage). The residential building will be a maximum of 96 metres high with up to 235 units, and it’s likely to be a rental property.

The Edmonton Design Committee approved the application with conditions back in September. The current site is home to the former Augustana Lutheran Church, which closed its doors last December after 85 years.

Committee Recommendations

Recommendations that have come forward from Committee include:

• That the Community Investment Program Project Grant recommendations be approved.
• That the River Access Guiding Principles Policy be approved.
• That Administration prepare a capital profile to implement a pilot project to install roadway upgrades in the Winterburn Industrial Area.
• That the Mayor approach senior orders of government and funders to request support for the Londonderry Regeneration Project as a pilot (part of the Safe and Affordable Housing Strategy).
• That the City of Edmonton Affordable Housing Strategy (2016-2025) be approved.
• That the Snow and Ice Control Policy be amended to keep school drop off zones windrow free.

There are also two Executive Committee reports that have been referred without a recommendation:

• That the report on the Process for New Libraries be received for information.
• Administration will prepare a report for Q1 2016 to explore options for the Graphic Arts Building and the Artery that could partially or completely preserve both buildings.

Other interesting items

• Bylaw 17396 will rename “Horse Hill Neighbourhood 2” to the “Marquis Neighbourhood”.
• Now that a judicial recount has confirmed that Amarjeet Sohi won his seat in Edmonton-Mill Woods, Council will receive a verbal report on the Ward 12 by-election.
• Council will consider participation in the Leadership in Asset Management Program which will allow the City to receive grant funding from FCM’s Green Municipal Fund.
• Bylaw 17289 is ready for three readings and will amend the Speed Zones Bylaw to change various maximum speed limits throughout the city.
• There are motions pending from Councillor Henderson (on food waste), Councillor Oshry (on public engagement stats), and Mayor Iveson (on procedures and committees).
• Council is slated to hear from the City Manager Recruitment Committee as well, though that update will be kept private.

Wrap-up

You can keep track of City Council on Twitter using the #yegcc hashtag, and you can listen to or watch any Council meeting live online. You can read my previous coverage of the 2013-2017 City Council here.

This coming week Council is back to Committee meetings. Below are a few highlights from the week’s agendas with links to the reports and more information.

Meetings this week

• October 26 at 9:30am – Community Services Committee Meeting
• October 27 at 9:30am – Executive Committee Meeting
• October 28 at 9:30am – Transportation Committee Meeting
• October 29 at 9:30am – Utility Committee Meeting

You can always see the latest City Council meetings on ShareEdmonton.

Affordable Housing

Executive Committee will be discussing three related reports on Tuesday:

• Safe and Affordable Housing Strategy
• City of Edmonton Affordable Housing Strategy
• Blatchford Housing Strategy

Here is the Edmonton context, according to the first report:

“In Edmonton, an estimated 11,600 social housing units will be affected by expiring operating agreements representing approximately $22 million in federal funding. These units are scattered throughout the city and include seniors self-contained housing, nonprofit housing, continuing co-operative housing, urban native housing, rent supplement housing and community housing. Of the community housing portfolio, the City of Edmonton is the whole or beneficial owner of approximately 3,400 units. The operating agreements for these units will begin to expire in 2022 with the majority ended by 2034.”

The ongoing City Charter negotiations with the Province are expected to address the issue of affordable housing, specifically when it comes to money. On the issue of the budget:

“Assuming that the City continues to participate in funding social housing at the current level, Administration estimates the need for an additional $4.6 million per year for the next 13 years (total of $59.8 million) in order to regenerate all 13 wholly City-owned social housing projects.”

The proposed Affordable Housing Strategy would replace the existing Building Together strategy, and would guide the City’s role in affordable housing for the next ten years (2016-2025). The strategy establishes four goals:

1. Increase the supply of affordable housing in all areas of the city.
2. Maintain the supply of affordable and market rental housing.
3. Enable stable residential tenancies and transition people out of homelessness.
4. Anticipate, recognize and coordinate action to respond to housing and homeless needs.

While stating that “municipal governments are best positioned to understand local housing needs,” the report says that “increasing the supply of affordable housing requires dedicated, sustained sources of funding, which must be provided by the other orders of government.”

Once the Affordable Housing Strategy is approved, the City will develop an implementation plan with specific initiatives that would begin early next year.

Council has previously directed that 20% of the housing units in Blatchford be affordable. The report linked above outlines the Principles for Development of Affordable Housing at Blatchford, details the Affordable Housing Allocation, and notes that “the $10 million earmarked for affordable housing from the proceeds of future land sales at Blatchford be used to offset the market value of land to be used for permanent supportive housing in Blatchford.”

River Access Guiding Principles Policy

Recognizing how important the North Saskatchewan River is Edmontonians quality of life, these guiding principles are being developed as “the backbone of a comprehensive river access strategy that will inform future programming, operations and infrastructure improvements that support access to the river and activities associated with the river.”

Edmonton Fall Season, photo by IQRemix

Work began back in 2013 and consultation has identified strong support for the guiding principles. Over the next year, the River Access Strategy and implementation plan will be developed.

“Approval of Policy C586 will ensure that the provision, development and management of river access and river-based activities in the City of Edmonton is responsible, orderly, equitable and environmentally appropriate, while providing opportunities for recreation, education and learning.”

The seven guiding principles are as follows:

1. Ensure public access to the river and riverside infrastructure as public domain.
2. Value and protect the unique character and environment in the river valley by stewarding, protecting, conserving and restoring the integrity of the river.
3. Educate and engage Edmontonians to build lifelong skills, as well as awareness and appreciation of the river and its natural surroundings in order to nurture stewardship of a valued resource.
4. Foster collaboration and partnerships so that infrastructure and facilities are shared and programming is coordinated.
5. Promote public safety and responsible use to communicate safe water recreation behaviors, emergency response and bylaw enforcement.
6. Provide and support a range of river recreation opportunities to enhance Edmonton’s unique quality of life.
7. Celebrate the cultural, historical and social role of the river in the city to build awareness and appreciation of the river.

You can read the full strategy here.

Process for New Libraries

This report outlines EPL’s prioritization process for new libraries and its rationale for advancing the preliminary design for the Penny McKee – Abbottsfield Branch. There’s a lot of information here, but I wanted to highlight a few things I learned:

• “The need for a new full service library branch is determined through an analysis of current and projected population in a particular area of the city, along with proximity to other full service library sites.”
• “Planning for a new location generally begins once an area’s population has reached 20,000 and is projected to grow to 30,000 to 35,000 within the next five years, and where there is not another library branch within four to five kilometres.”
• Selected sites must be highly visible, close to or on premium transit routes and roadways, close to current or planned LRT, and be readily accessible to pedestrians.
• EPL “seeks opportunities for co-location of library service points with other municipal services” like recreation centres.
• EPL branches are classified into three sizes: Small (10,000 square feet and under), Medium (over 10,000 up to 18,000 square feet), and Large (25,000 square feet).

The key unfunded capital project priorities over the next 10 years identified in Edmonton Public Library’s 2015-2024 Capital Plan are the following, in descending order of priority:

• Riverbend (existing branch)
• Lewis Estates (will replace West Henday Promenade eplGO)
• Heritage Valley (new branch)
• Woodcroft (existing branch)
• Pilot Sound (new branch)
• Whitemud Crossing (existing branch)
• Castledowns (existing branch)
• Abbottsfield (existing branch)
• Ellerslie (new branch)

There’s a lot of information on the rationale for moving the Abbottsfield branch “to an owned facility in 2022-2024 (design and build timeline).” The current branch is serving the public well and the existing lease doesn’t expire until 2020, but “the importance of a library accessible to a community, particularly one that faces higher than average social issues, is a factor for consideration.”

Transit Fares 2016-2018

Earlier this year, Council decided that transit fares would be set within the multi-year budgeting process. Administration is suggesting that the increase be set at an average of 3% per year. Adult cash fares would therefore be:

• 2015: $3.20
• 2016: $3.25
• 2017: $3.50
• 2018: $3.50

Thankfully they are rounding fares to the nearest 0.25 now to make it easier to pay. Adult monthly pass fares would be:

• 2015: $89.00
• 2016: $91.50
• 2017: $94.25
• 2018: $97.00

You can see the full fee schedule here. There has been no public engagement on these fares yet, not even an online survey.

With the new fares, ETS cost recovery would remain fairly constant between 41% and 42%. Ridership is slated to increase slightly, but rides per capita will decline.

Air Conditioning on ETS Vehicles

Councillor Sohi made a request for information on this topic back in July. The report says that 57 of 94 LRT cars have air conditioning and just two hybrid-buses have air conditioning – the remaining 884 buses have none. In Calgary, they have 150 buses with air conditioning that engages at 24 degrees Celsius. And surprisingly, Winnipeg has 256 buses with air conditioning!

ETS Platinum (6002), photo by Kurt Bauschardt

I don’t think this is worth pursuing, given that we have an average of just 42 days per year with temperatures of 24 degrees Celsius or above, but the report does provide pricing information. The cost to add air conditioning to new buses is $22,500 per bus, and the cost to retrofit is $43,000 per bus. On top of that, if the entire ETS fleet were to be outfitted with air conditioning, it would cost an additional $457,000 per year to operate.

2016-2018 Waste Management & Drainage Services Utility Operating Budgets

The 2016-2018 Waste Management Utility Operating Budget is now ready for Council review:

• 2016: Revenues of $187,952,000 and Expenditures of $189,998,000.
• 2017: Revenues of $199,290,000 and Expenditures of $197,327,000.
• 2018: Revenues of $207,332,000 and Expenditures of $206,461,000.

The 2016-2018 Drainage Services Utility Operating Budget is also ready for Council review:

• 2016: Revenues of $172,890,000 and Expenditures of $133,896,000.
• 2017: Revenues of $181,059,000 and Expenditures of $143,471,000.
• 2018: Revenues of $187,142,000 and Expenditures of $149,920,000.

Council has until October 26 to submit written questions, which Administration will respond to by October 28. Budget deliberations will take place in late November.

Other interesting items

• Council previously approved a herbicide ban and a new report discusses the implications of applying the ban to leased city lands.
• The University of Alberta is continuing to explore the construction of twin arenas on the South Campus lands, and the City is entering into a non-legally-binding MOU with the university to further explore the project.
• There’s a recommendation that the Wildlife Rehabilitation Society of Edmonton receive $60,000 in bridge funding to the end of 2015.
• Edmonton’s Local Immigrant Partnership Council got underway in June and now the City is looking at establishing a Multicultural Advisory Committee as part of the initiative.
• No files have been uploaded for this yet, but there’s an agenda item on registering community leagues as charities for tax purposes.
• Three new BRZ annual reports are available: Kingsway, Beverly, and Chinatown. The latter’s report is surprisingly hostile toward the City!
• A review of the Development Servicing Fees Cost Sharing Arrangement Principles has determined that the current 50% cost recovery and existing principles are appropriate and will be maintained.
• Administration is seeking to enter into a three-year deal worth up to $3.5 million with Postmedia for advertising. The report says explicitly for “print and online advertising services in the Edmonton Journal” but I wonder how the Postmedia acquisition of the Sun plays into this. Would the City still have another separate agreement for the Sun? Over the last three years, the City has spent about $1 million per year on advertising in the Journal.
• If you’re interested in the ongoing debate about bike lanes, you’ll want to check out this report on community engagement.
• Bylaw 17289 will make some changes to speed limits throughout the city.
• An update on the One-Sided Parking Ban Pilot found that it “produced limited benefits” and “was also not strongly supported by residents.” As a result, Administration is not recommending pursuing one-sided parking bans.
• Council will be discussing ways to deal with emerging issues in-between Utility Committee Meetings, which are relatively infrequent.

Wrap-up

You can keep track of City Council on Twitter using the #yegcc hashtag, and you can listen to or watch any Council meeting live online. You can read my previous coverage of the 2013-2017 City Council here.

Monday is the federal election, so that will be the focus for most Edmontonians and I’m sure Council will be paying close attention also. Mayor Iveson joined other big city Canadian mayors in calling for cities to be a key factor in determining who to vote for. FCM has setup a website to provide information on all of the promises the parties have made related to cities.

Here’s my look at what Council will be discussing in the week ahead.

Meetings this week

• October 19 at 9:30am – Council Services Committee Meeting
• October 19 at 1:30pm – City Council Public Hearing
• October 20 at 9:30am – City Council Meeting
• October 20 at 12:15pm – City Manager Recruitment Committee Meeting
• October 21 at 1:30pm – City Council Meeting
• October 22 at 8:00am – City Manager Recruitment Committee Meeting

You can always see the latest City Council meetings on ShareEdmonton.

Zoning Bylaw Amendments on Urban Agriculture

Bylaw 17403 is a text amendment to the Zoning Bylaw 12800 that will add several urban agriculture uses and associated regulations. There are three new uses:

• Urban Gardens “is for personal, community, or institutional food production and will be allowed in most zones.”
• Urban Outdoor Farms “is for commercial food production on private property, primarily intended for vacant and underutilized lots in Edmonton.”
• Urban Indoor Farms “is for commercial and industrial operations that take advantage of new technologies and processes to increase yield and operate year round.”

Additionally, “Farms” will be renamed to “Rural Farms” and “Greenhouses, Plant Nurseries and Market Gardens” is renamed to “Greenhouses, Plant Nurseries and Garden Centres” and will be updated to better align with the products those businesses sell.

The goal of these amendments is to more closely align the Zoning Bylaw with the policies identified in Fresh, Edmonton’s Food and Urban Agriculture Strategy. Importantly, the three new uses “are proposed to assert that primary food production is legal and encouraged in Edmonton.”

Anthony Henday Drive & 135 Street Interchange and Manning/Meridian Interchange

The City is recommending an interchange at Anthony Henday Drive and 135 Street, which could cost in the order of $125 million, “as one of the three top candidates for the Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component of the New Building Canada Fund.” They say the return of investment would come from further development of Heritage Valley.

Also up for Council’s consideration is a project bundle for the Edmonton Energy and Technology Park. The planned 4800 ha area envisioned as “a world-class eco-industrial park” is off to a slow start.

“Development in the Edmonton Energy and Technology Park to date has been limited. It is unlikely that development will occur as desired without infrastructure investment. A significant impediment to development taking place in the Edmonton Energy and Technology Park currently is the lack of existing infrastructure and its associated cost.”

The infrastructure investment in both transportation and stormwater drainage could cost in the order of $230 million. However, Administration advises that “it would be appropriate for Council to first provide direction with respect to the degree to which, and where, public funds should contribute to infrastructure servicing that is otherwise provided by developers.”

Meeting Schedule & Council Appointments

It’s that time of year again – Council needs to approve its meeting schedule for the year ahead. There’s nothing too surprising in the proposed schedule. Council would resume after the Christmas break on January 11 and would meet through March 24, right before the Easter break. The summer break would begin on July 15, with Council resuming on August 15.

“The draft January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016, Council and Committee Meeting Schedule has 19 Council and Standing Committee meeting rotations, 19 Statutory Public Hearings, 18 Non-regular City Council meetings, along with three half-day Council meetings and eight Committee meetings for civic agency recruitment and selection matters.”

The report helpfully includes some statistics from 2013 – 2015 to compare the proposed schedule with previous years. Council must also set the Deputy Mayor and Acting Mayor schedules for the coming year. Each Councillor gets a turn.

As of December 31, a number of Council appointments to civic agencies will expire. The following appointments are being proposed:

• Alberta Capital Region Wastewater Exchange Agreement Coordinating Committee – Councillor Anderson and Councillor Walters
• Canadian Urban Transit Association Transit Board Members Committee – Councillor Sohi
• Capital Region Board – Councillor Gibbons
• Capital Region Waste Minimization Advisory Committee – Councillor Anderson
• Edmonton Police Commission – Councillor McKeen
• Edmonton Public Library Board – Councillor Henderson
• Edmonton Salutes – Councillor Loken
• Inter-City Forum on Social Policy – Councillor Esslinger
• REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities – Councillor Loken (as advisor/liaison)

If Councillor Sohi is successful in Monday’s election, then a future report will be brought forward to replace his existing appointments. There is also a list of appointments not yet up for renewal if you’d like to see which Councillors are representing us where.

Northern Circumpolar Secretariat Memorandum of Understanding

The Northern Circumpolar Secretariat is a collaborative effort between the City, EEDC, Chamber of Commerce, U of A, and the Edmonton Regional Airports Authority. It was established earlier this year and the report on the table presents the Memorandum of Understanding for approval. It is “a policy tool to ensure the long-term stability of the Secretariat as it executes its mandate in support of the Northern Relations Council Initiative.” The MOU is 10 pages long and also attached is a 22-page business plan which outlines the budget, governance model, goals, vision, and timeline and deliverables for the Secretariat. The City is providing $90,000 this year, $35,750 in 2016, and $62,000 in 2017.

Adoption of the Aster NSP

Aster is the 7th and final neighbourhood in The Meadows ASP. Larkspur, Wild Rose, and Silverberry are considered 100& complete in terms of low density residential units while Laurel, Tamarack, and Maple are considered 45% complete.

Aster will accommodate approximately 3,499 dwelling units and 8,755 people, which is a density of 33.3 upnrha, barely meeting the CRB target for the region. It will account for approximately 15% of The Meadows ASP’s gross area and population.

The neighbourhood will include:

• one school/park site, with two K-9 schools located in the centre of the area, and three pocket parks throughout the neighbourhood
• approximately 22 hectares of preserved existing natural areas
• approximately 13 hectares of stormwater management facilities
• a system of shared use paths and a bicycle network

The initial neighbourhood infrastructure costs are being largely funded by developers – $104.7 million compared to the City’s $14.8 million – but as usual “there will also be associated operating and life cycle costs that would require City funding allocations in Operating, Utilities and Capital Budgets.” City funding could be required as early as 2017 if the planned construction begins in 2016.

Bylaw 17366 will be considered along with Bylaw 17365 to amend the Meadows ASP and Bylaw 17367 to amend the boundary of the North Saskatchewan River Valley ARP.

Committee Recommendations

Recommendations that have come forward from Committee include:

• That a Notice of Intention to Designate as Municipal Historic Resources be served on the owners of the Molson Brewery property.
• That the proposed amendments to the Complete Streets Policy be approved.

There are also two Executive Committee reports that have been referred without a recommendation:

• High Level Analysis on the Feasibility of Maintaining, Moving or Preserving the Graphic Arts Building (the “Artery”)
• Public Engagement Initiative Interim Report

Bylaws

There are a number of bylaws on the agenda. Here are a few highlights:

• Bylaw 17352 will allow for digital signs to be erected in South Edmonton Common, between Gateway Boulevard and Parsons Road and 23 Avenue and Anthony Henday.
• Bylaw 17373 and Bylaw 17374 together will “ensure the continued operation and preservation of the Oblats Maison Provinciale building, a Designated Municipal and Provincial Historic Resource.”
• Bylaw 17297 would amend the Public Places Bylaw to include the prohibition of e-cigarettes in the same manner as tobacco products.
• Bylaw 17432 authorizes borrowing of up to $250 million for the Valley Line LRT project.
• Bylaw 17390 will increase the borrowing authority to finance construction costs for the Valley Line LRT from $152 million to $1.1 billion.

Other interesting items

• Council will once again be discussing the Youth Council recommendation of vegetarian eating, in the name of sustainability.
• There is a small change being proposed to the 2016-2018 Budget Process, to allow for an early release of the Utility Budget. Council must now submit written questions regarding the budget by October 28.
• The City Manager Recruitment Committee, made up of Mayor Iveson and Councillors Esslinger, Loken, and Walters, met for the first time on September 30. Pretty much all of their activities will be carried out in private.
• Tuesday’s agenda includes six private reports, including an update on the Valley Line LRT Funding Plan, an update on City Infrastructure Priorities for the Provincial Budget, and a status update from the Acting City Manager.
• Wednesday’s agenda includes just two private reports: verbal shortlistings for both the Edmonton Regional Airports Authority and the Edmonton Police Commission.

Wrap-up

You can keep track of City Council on Twitter using the #yegcc hashtag, and you can listen to or watch any Council meeting live online. You can read my previous coverage of the 2013-2017 City Council here.