This coming week Council is back to Committee meetings. I think because of the budget, a lot of reports have been postponed or rerouted. Below are a few highlights from the week’s agendas with links to the reports and more information.

Meetings this week

• November 9 at 9:30am – Community Services Committee Meeting
• November 9 at 12:00pm – Special LRT Governance Board Meeting
• November 9 at 1:30pm – Transportation Committee Meeting
• November 10 at 9:30am – Executive Committee Meeting
• November 12 at 1:30pm – Audit Committee Meeting

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

First Responders Memoriam

Councillor Anderson made an inquiry back in June about how Edmonton Police, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services, Emergency Medical Services, and other first responders who have died on duty are honoured. Some highlights from the response:

• “There is no one existing record or public location that identifies the names of all first responders who have died in the line of duty.”
• EPS and EFS both have programs that honour their fallen members.
• The City has both the Civic Employee Memorial and the Naming Committee does honour people and places in the City.
• “The Edmonton Police Service recognize members by adding the names of fallen officers to their flag (or colours), which is on permanent public display at City of Edmonton Police Headquarters. The names of ten fallen officers, dating back to 1918, are recorded on the flag.”
• For Edmonton Fire Rescue Services, “there is a bell tower that contains the ceremonial bell and the honour roll which names all of Edmonton’s fallen firefighters.”

The City holds a memorial event every two to three years, the next of which will take place in September 2017. “The program includes an Honour Guard procession provided by Edmonton Police Service and Fire Rescue Services, and the laying of the wreaths in honour of the deceased.”

The response also says it could be possible to identify a permanent location for a “First Responders Memorial” within City Hall.

Current Status of the Film Commission

There’s some interesting background in this report on Edmonton’s film industry. The role of Edmonton Film Commissioner was created in 2001 and since then two people have filled the position. But it has been vacant since March 2015 as EEDC “has been evaluating a new strategy which encompasses other forms of media and technology.”

There are also two recommendations, based on public engagement and other evaluation:

• “That the Edmonton Film Commission and the role of the Edmonton Film Commissioner continue to reside with Edmonton Economic Development Corporation.”
• “That Administration work with the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, Alberta Media Productions Industries Association and representatives of the film, music and digital media industries, to develop an industry collaboration and development framework, and provide a report to Executive Committee with the results of these discussions.”

EEDC’s new strategy is called “Intersect – a collision of artists and geeks”.

“Intersect offers a multi-disciplinary environment for content creators, interactive designers, hardware engineers, and data scientists, working to transform the way we visualize and analyze data, tell and share stories, and interact with technology.”

The strategy notes that although the digital/interactive media industry generates $7.5 billion of revenue in Canada, just 14% of digital media production takes place in Alberta, and 80% of that is in Calgary. That means there’s a big opportunity for Edmonton to take a bigger piece of the pie.

A separate strategy from AMPIA proposes the creation of an Edmonton Screen Industries Office that would support the local industry. But: “Ultimately, there needs to be collaboration with municipal and provincial organizations and government departments to align goals and resources where appropriate to grow Edmonton screen and cultural industries.”

There’s also a report on the Film Funding Agreement between the City and EEDC. “Administration sees a continued economic benefit in supporting the previously established agreement.”

Distributed Energy in Edmonton’s Downtown

The report begins:

“The City of Edmonton has long understood the benefits of a district energy system and has been monitoring district energy opportunities for several decades. Feasibility studies were done in 1980 and 1992 to explore implementation of district energy in the central core. Since that early work, the technology has evolved considerably and the infrastructure needed takes less space and is more cost-effective than traditional boiler installations.”

The business case for a district energy system in downtown Edmonton is now ready for Council’s review. The City would need to provide a few things in order for it to work: commit City-owned building connections, provide a central located building site for the energy hub, and encourage other organizations to use it. It would also need to contribute $9 million over three years to “help to offset ENMAX’s financial investment and risk” in developing the system.

The benefits of the district energy system for downtown include:

• “A reduction of 18,100 tonnes (3,800 cars) of greenhouse gas emissions per year in the initial build out of the district energy system.”
• “Reduced environmental footprint for municipally owned and operated buildings.”
• “Increased power grid resiliency for the urban core.”

Administration will likely bring forward an unfunded service package for the system for Council to review during the 2016-2018 budget process.

Low Income Transit Pass

This report is a follow-up to Council’s request from April on options for implementation and distribution of the Low Income Transit Pass for 2016. The pass is to have an initial discount of 60%, funded by property taxes. Administration is recommending a $35 pass for eligible customers.

“The most significant challenge for implementing a low income pass program is ensuring that there are enough distribution points so that qualified individuals and families can purchase the pass with relative ease, while still ensuring that only those intended to benefit from the tax levy funded subsidy do so.”

There are more than 100,000 individuals in Edmonton with incomes below the Low Income Cut Off (LICO). ETS expects that an average of 20,000 Low Income Transit Passes will be sold each month (which includes the roughly 5,000 people who already qualify for the AISH Pass). The report recommends four sales locations: Clareview Recreation Centre, Mill Woods Recreation Centre, St. Francis Xavier Sports Centre, and City Hall.

In terms of budget implications:

“The net impact for the recommended $35 Low Income Transit Pass, for all transit services, is $3.1 million in 2016, $6.3 million in 2017 and $8.4 million in 2018.”

Administration is also providing a couple of enhancement options and alternatives:

• One enhancement would mean that qualifying families only pay for adults and all children under 18 would get a transit pass at no cost. This would further reduce ETS revenue by $2.3 million.
• A separate enhancement could be to provide the pass at no cost to all eligible Edmontonians. A further reduction in ETS revenue of approximately $8 million would anticipated.
• An alternative would be a $1 pay-as-you-go cash fare. The cost to ETS of such a program would be “significantly reduced compared to the monthly pass” but the cost to Edmontonians could be more or less, depending on how many rides they take each month.

The City is also recommending that 500 transit passes be distributed monthly to homeless citizens.

Another interesting item from the report is that the “new Low Income Transit Pass operational program should be considered as an interim process” because the regional Smart Fare system will incorporate all fare products, including low income. The report says the new Smart Fare system is expected to be operational in 2018.

Neighbourhood Renewal Program Status Update

There’s lots of really interesting information in this report! From 2009 to 2014, Neighbourhood Renewal Program investment has totaled $660 million. That includes:

• 22 Neighbourhood Reconstruction Projects
• 44 Neighbourhood Overlay Projects
• Total of 1651 lane kilometres of Local/Collector Roads renewed

The Capital Budget for 2015-2018 would total $615 million in Neighbourhood Renewal. That’s 1.5% annually and will fund:

• 20 Neighbourhood Reconstruction Projects
• 24 Neighbourhood Overlay Projects
• Total of 1122 lane kilometres of Local/Collector Roads renewed

The report includes a possible reduction to just 1.4% for 2016, 2017, and 2018, which would reduce the funding by $41.6 million.

Other interesting items

• The Edmonton Space and Science Foundation has requested a longer term for their lease agreement with the City, which would give them the opportunity to amortize capital expenditures over 25 years. The annual lease is $1.00 and the City provides an annual operating grant (it was $1.994 million this year).
• Increased turf maintenance at City facilities could cost between $10.8 million and $17.6 million per year.
• Unfortunately, Edmonton’s housing continues to expand outward and that means that “the managing of problem wildlife has become critical.” Administration has outlined some options for enhancing the wildlife management program to help deal with it.
• The funding agreement between the City and the U of A on the Enterprise Square Galleries comes to an end in March 2016. An unfunded service package of $340,000 per year to continue supporting the initiative will be considered during the 2016-2018 budget process.
• There’s a report on the bylaws, legislation, and incentives used in cities throughout North America to protect and retain mature trees on private property. “The introduction of a specific enabling legislation in Alberta would assist in developing a tree protection bylaw which would withstand legal challenge.”
• Bylaw 17431 will establish the Energy Transition Advisory Committee. Membership will consist of up to 10 volunteer members appointed by City Council.
• Council will also review the terms of reference for the Energy Transition and Climate Resilience.
• There’s a recommendation that the City contribute $1.238 million to Homeward Trust for 2015.
• Administration is recommending that both McDougall United Church and the Hulbert Block be designated as Municipal Historic Resource.
• The report on Transit Fares from the October 28 Transportation Committee Meeting was postponed and will be discussed this week. Here’s what I wrote about it.
• There’s an update on Addressing Transit Security: “Edmonton Transit, in collaboration with community partners, has made significant progress undertaking initiatives aimed at improving safety, changing perceptions, and educating both employees and citizens with respect to safety on Edmonton Transit.”
• The City’s external auditor, KPMG, has released its Audit Planning Report for the year ending December 31, 2015.
• The City Auditor says there are 36 recommendations made to Administration that are outstanding. Of those, 25 are not yet due and 11 are overdue. Administration also provided an update, focusing on the 3 recommendations that are more than a year overdue and the 3 recommendations that are more than six months overdue.
• The City Auditor has also submitted its 2016 Annual and Long-Term Work Plan as well as its proposed 2016-2018 budget. The office is not projected to grow and projects a consistent $2.3 million per year in expenditures, 92% of which is salary and benefits.
• Council will also receive a private update on the Metro Line LRT on Monday afternoon.

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.

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.