Tag: the quarters

Don’t get too excited about supertall building proposals in Edmonton

There’s nothing quite like a skyline-defining tower to get people excited. Earlier this week a proposal for an 80-storey tower in The Quarters known as the The Quarters Hotel and Residences caught the eye of many. Developers Alldritt Land Corporation LLP still need to get approval for the tower from City Council, something they’ll seek within the next year. But is this proposal really something we should get excited about?

After decades without any new towers being built downtown, I completely understand the appeal of these proposals. Especially with recent examples to point to like Enbridge Centre and the new City of Edmonton Tower, both of which are very attractive buildings. Not to mention the Stantec Tower, which will finally get Edmonton into the skyscraper club. Closing the City Centre Airport and removing the height restrictions over downtown made these buildings possible.

Kelly Ramsey Hero Shot
Kelly Ramsey Hero Shot, photo by David Sutherland

But those are office towers, not residential towers, and they’re located in the heart of our commercial core. When we look at residential towers elsewhere in our downtown and the surrounding neighbourhoods, density is what should be important to us, not necessarily height. We want to increase the population of our core neighbourhoods, but we don’t need record-setting heights in order to achieve that. And in fact, such heights might actually be detrimental.

I wrote about this back in June when the issue of changing downtown land economics came up before Council:

“A really tall tower on one site might be appealing for the impact it’ll have on the skyline, for the apparent “prestige” that comes along with height, and for the increased profits and/or reduced financial risks for the developer. But it could also mean that instead of development occurring on multiple sites, only the tall tower goes ahead. Look at it this way: would you rather have three 20-storey towers or one 60-storey tower?”

There is one other potential benefit of the supertall towers aside from being attractive and it’s that in theory Council can negotiate with the developers to ensure there are public good contributions made in exchange for the height. The problem is that the last time that opportunity came up with the 45-storey Emerald Tower in Oliver, we didn’t end up with a very good deal. This is partly because there are no formal rules for those negotiations.

At it’s July 6 meeting, Executive Committee passed the following motion in attempt to change that:

“That Administration conduct further research and stakeholder engagement towards a formalized review procedure and incentive system to be applied to Direct Control Provision rezoning applications that add Floor Area Ratio in the city core and Transit Oriented Developments, and return to Committee in the First Quarter of 2017.”

Ideally this framework will be approved before the proposed Quarters tower goes to Council.

Downtown Skyline

There are other reasons to question proposals for supertall buildings, of course. Plenty of proposals have come forward and then quietly disappeared, such as the 71-storey “Edmontonian” tower that was proposed back in 2013. More recently, there are concerns about the vacancy rate downtown with the approved towers coming online and the impact that’ll have on the residential market. And on top of that residential towers like Brad Lamb’s Jasper House Condos which haven’t started construction yet are now lowering prices. For all of these reasons there’s no guarantee that the proposed Quarters tower will go ahead.

Yes, it would be great to see The Quarters develop into a vibrant part of our downtown core, and maybe this building could help us achieve that. A supertall building there could do for The Quarters CRL what the Bow Building did for The Rivers District CRL in Calgary. It’s certainly better than a giant hole in the ground! But I’m not convinced a single, supertall building is what we should be pursuing for the area.

A similar discussion is playing out in cities like New York, albeit at a very different scale. Here’s the criticism that Diller Scofidio + Renfro co-founder Elizabeth Diller had for the multiple out-of-character skyscrapers being proposed in New York City:

“I believe in planning logics where you have neighbourhoods, and you don’t just do one building at a time. We need more planning vision in the city than there is now, where there’s no thinking of the effect of tall buildings. I believe in planning, and even zones that are planned up high. There are zones and then logics, and they have edges. There needs to be a consciousness of the urban adjacencies and the products of what the building comes with.”

Edmonton absolutely needs to build up rather than out, but we need to consider the impact that approving one supertall tower will have on the surrounding area. Multiple tall buildings is probably more desirable than one supertall tower.

Coming up at City Council: March 7-11, 2016

Council is back to Committee meetings next week!

Edmonton City Council

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

Meetings this week

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

Urban Hens Pilot Evaluation

Last year after a successful pilot, Council approved the bylaw changes required to support urban beekeeping. Will they do the same for urban hens?

From the 35 citizens that applied to the urban hens pilot, 19 sites were formally accepted across the city. Each had to register provincially and had to receive consent from adjacent neighbours. They were managed by “both experienced and inexperienced hen owners” and they received support from the River City Chickens Collective. Here’s how the pilot went:

  • Each site was inspected at the beginning, midpoint, and end of the pilot.
  • “The majority” of sites were compliant, but a few follow-up inspections were required.
  • One site had concerns over the requirements and withdrew.
  • There were 12 citizen complaints across six sites, but all were “investigated promptly” and resolved amicably.
  • There were no complaints related to coyotes or other predatory wildlife, but there was “an increase in nuisance birds, roaming cats, and mice” for some sites.

A formal Urban Hen Keeping Program does not require any bylaw changes, so the Committee can essentially give the go-ahead if they support the idea. Property owners would be required to abide by the guidelines and would need to obtain a development permit under the new urban outdoor farming class. The requirement for neighbour consent would be removed, but participants would need to complete a training course or workshop before being issued a license.

Chickenses
Chickenses, photo by Dave Sutherland

“While the results of the pilot lean favourably towards supporting a program, several pilot outcomes cause some concern from an enforcement perspective,” the report says. For that reason, Administration is recommending a phased implementation in which the number of sites would be capped at 50 over the next two years.

The Edmonton Insight Community survey that was conducted along with the pilot found that 51% of respondents somewhat or strongly agree that raising hens in the city is good for neighbourhoods.

Park & Ride

A report from the Edmonton Transit System Advisory Board identifies short and medium-term options to address the high demand for Park and Ride stalls. Recall that a previous report on Park & Ride at Century Park found that the lot is 85% full by 7am on weekday mornings and that the average weekday utilization of all park & ride sites is 97% at LRT stations and 60-70% at transit centres. The ETSAB report suggests “there is a clear need for an increase in supply” but it also suggests dealing with the price of stalls too. Roughly 87% of all stalls available are provided free of charge, with reserved stalls priced at $42/month (the same since 2010). The existing Park & Ride policy states that up to 18% of stalls at each location can be reserved for paid parking.

The options identified to deal with this include:

  1. Convert a Greater Proportion of Existing Stalls into Paid Reserved Stalls
  2. Increase the Price to Park in Reserved Stalls
  3. Offer Time-Limited, Unreserved Stalls
  4. Seek Alternatives to Increase the Supply of Park and Ride Stalls

The recommendation is for Administration to prepare a subsequent report on “the feasibility, implications and details of implementing” those options. ETSAB “believes that Park and Ride facilities form a critical part of our transportation system” but they feel customers should pay a greater portion of the costs of parking.

Century Park Station & Park and Ride
Century Park Station & Park and Ride, photo by City of Edmonton

A related report deals with the strategy for Park & Ride locations. The current policy (C554) was approved in 2009 and states that park & ride will be located:

  • at selected LRT stations and transit centres served by LRT, premium bus, or express bus services;
  • in areas along or outside of the Inner Ring Road (Yellowhead Trail, 170 Street, Whitemud Drive, and 75 Street/Wayne Gretzky Drive) and preferably at least eight km from Downtown or University of Alberta North Campus; and
  • at sites where more intensive development is not possible or feasible, such as the Transportation Utility Corridor or other major utility rights of way or where such development is not expected to occur in the immediate future.

Administration feels the policy has limitations and should be updated, just not right away. The new Transit Strategy is slated to be complete in 2017 and “is envisioned to encompass all transit-related issues at a high level, including park and ride.” The recommendation is to revisit the park and ride policy at that time.

Urban Balcony Expropriation

Identified as a part of The Quarters Downtown, the “urban balcony” is a triangular piece of land located between Jasper Avenue, 101 Avenue, and 96 Street atop Grierson Hill. The Quraters plan envisions it “as refuge for public gathering, providing and protecting public access to some of the most beautiful views in the City.” Its inclusion in the plan “recognizes the importance of access to the River Valley both in a physical and visual sense.”

urban balcony

In order to build the urban balcony, the City must acquire four properties. Two of those are vacant and undeveloped, and two contain unoccupied apartment buildings “in poor repair.” One is actually “subject to an Alberta Health Services Health Hazard Notice and is unfit for human habitation.” Administration has been negotiating with the owners the properties, but so far they haven’t been successful. As a result, they are recommending that Council approve the commencement of the expropriation process.

Other interesting items

  • A report on the current tax status of urban farmland identifies that although buildings used for farming operations in Edmonton receive an automatic 50% tax exemption, no such provision exists for urban farmland. Council does have the power to set a differential tax rate for farmland.
  • An update on EPS funding shows that in the latter half of 2015 they spent $266,000 on “component rebuild” for Air 1 and Air 2.
  • About 75% of the funding for the Community Energy Transition Strategy was being withheld pending a report on the provincial climate change strategy. Now that the report is available, there’s a recommendation to release the funds. “The conclusion was that the City’s action plan is consistent with provincial policies and directions.” See also the report on Corporate Environmental Targets.
  • Administration has provided a summary of its engagement to date with stakeholders regarding the Blatchford Project and in particular related to “visitable housing” which is “the concept of designing and building homes with basic accessibility features that provide easy access on the main level for everyone, including persons with limited mobility.” The recommendation is to encourage home builders in Blatchford to incorporate visitability principles.

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.

Alberta’s Community Revitalization Levy: Rivers District, Belvedere, The Quarters

This is the second part in a three-part series on Alberta’s CRL.

Armed with a better understanding of Alberta’s CRL legislation, I turned my attention to the three active CRL projects in the province. What are the projects for? Why is a CRL appropriate for them? What can we learn from the projects that will help us when exploring the idea of using a CRL in the future? That’s some of what we’re going to look at in this post.

To quickly recap the process: there is some back-and-forth between the city and the province in establishing a CRL. First, the Lieutenant Governor must approve the regulation, which includes the CRL boundary. Second, City Council must approve the plan & bylaw for the CRL (and these can be done separately). And finally, that plan & bylaw must also be approved by the province. The three projects we’re going to look at are at different stages of that process.

Calgary’s Rivers District

The first specific CRL regulation to be passed in Alberta was for the City of Calgary Rivers District, back in 2006. The Rivers District project was the catalyst for the MGA amendment that made CRLs possible in Alberta.

 City of Calgary Rivers District Community Revitalization Levy Regulation (AR 232/2006)

The Rivers District is the furthest along of all the CRLs in Alberta – everything has been approved and the City is well into implementation. It was 2007 when everything was finally approved, so the baseline for tax assessments would have been frozen to the values on December 31, 2007.

It’s worth pointing out that the CRL is just a small part of a much larger project known as The Rivers:

The vision for a revitalized Rivers district is more than a place to live, it is a lively urban destination.

This map shows the area the project covers, and as you can see, it is quite expansive. The idea is to reclaim the waterfront, and to make the area more desirable for development. In addition to infrastructure upgrades, a new riverwalk is in the works (phase 1 is now open actually).

The CRL boundary is large, but it is a small part of the overall project. Here’s what it looks like (KML):

The boundary covers an area of roughly 1.9 square kilometers (478 acres).

One of the big advantages to using a CRL for the Rivers District is that the City of Calgary owned much of the land within the boundary. That’s important because it means the baseline assessment for those assets would be zero, and there’s lots of potential for getting some of that all-important lift.

I spent some time talking with Kathleen Young, Development Manager for The Quarters Downtown at the City of Edmonton, and found out that she actually worked on the Rivers District CRL! Her knowledge and experience on that project was one of the reasons that she came to Edmonton. You know what they say, it’s a small world.

Kathleen pointed out that the CRL boundary for the Rivers District includes some key developments, notably The Bow (here’s a photo of the building I took back in July). When finished, The Bow will become the headquarters for EnCana, and will be the tallest office building in Canada outside Toronto. Groundbreaking for the project took place in June 2007, around the same time that the Rivers District CRL was approved, which means almost all of the incremental value realized through the development of the building will be captured by the CRL.

To work on The Rivers, the City of Calgary created a wholly owned corporation called the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC). They have some great information on the various aspects of the project if you’d like to learn more. CMLC was actually awarded a Canadian Urban Institute Brownie Award in 2008 for the CRL:

The Canadian Urban Institute’s annual Brownie Award recognizes leadership, innovation and environmental sustainability in brownfields redevelopment across Canada. CMLC won in the category of "Financing, Risk Management and Partnership" for our work in the creation of the Rivers District Community Revitalization Levy Regulation. A "made in Alberta" version of the U.S. Tax Increment Financing (TIF)— which is a widely used financing mechanism for redevelopment of brownfield sites in the United States—provides a sustainable source of funding to finance the significant infrastructure development required in the Rivers District for a 20-year period.

It sure looks like the Rivers District CRL will be a success!

Belvedere (Fort Road)

The first CRL regulation to be passed for Edmonton was for the Belvedere redevelopment project, commonly known as the Fort Road Redevelopment project. The project has been in the works since at least 2000, and has evolved quite a bit over the last decade. It was very much in the works before CRL legislation came into effect.

 City of Edmonton Belvedere Community Revitalization Levy Regulation (AR 57/2010)

The Belvedere CRL isn’t quite as far along as the Rivers District, but it is nearly there. Kathleen clarified that the borrowing bylaw (14883) has been approved, but the plan bylaw is still in the works. Armed with the $34,250,000 specified in the borrowing bylaw, the City has undertaken much of the infrastructure upgrades planned for the area.

Here’s the CRL boundary for the project (KML):

The boundary covers an area of roughly 1.3 square kilometers (324 acres).

A unique element of the Belvedere CRL is that the City owns almost all of the land within the boundary. As a result, when they sell the land all of the incremental value will be captured by the CRL, making it much less likely that the City would have to fall back on general revenue to cover the debt.

The Belvedere project is an interesting one. It is unlikely that development would have taken place in the area without the City of Edmonton stepping in to try to make the area more attractive and desirable. Through that lens, the use of a CRL makes a lot of sense. If you think back to the two basic assumptions highlighted in part one, the Belvedere CRL certainly passes the first – it’s worth the risk.

As for the second assumption – there’s a sound expectation that development will occur – that one is less certain. Especially given the challenging economy, it could be a while before anything substantial happens. Having said that, the first sale of the Station Pointe lands last year for $5.2 million is hopefully a sign of things to come (that project received $481,000 in federal funding in August). The redevelopment project is still in the early stages, and Rick Daviss at the City of Edmonton confirmed that at least a couple new conditional deals are in place, so there’s movement.

There’s more information on the Station Pointe project here – it won a Brownie Award in 2008.

You can find lots of background and other information on the Fort Road redevelopment project here.

The Quarters

The newest CRL regulation to be passed was for The Quarters Downtown, a redevelopment project here in Edmonton previously known as the Downtown East redevelopment. I wrote about The Quarters a couple weeks ago, and I’d encourage you to look at that post to get an overview of the project.

 City of Edmonton The Quarters Community Revitalization Levy Regulation (AR 173/2010)

As the newest CRL project, The Quarters has the furthest to go before it is ready for implementation. The province has approved the regulation and boundary, and Administration is now working on the plan and bylaw to present to Council. That will happen sometime in 2011, according to Kathleen. Her team wants to make sure they get it right.

Here is the CRL boundary for the project (KML):

The boundary covers an area of roughly  0.93 square kilometers (229 acres).

The Quarters is a large plan that will proceed in phases. Once completed, it is anticipated that the area will accommodate a population of nearly 20,000 people, up from less than 2500 today. The project is made up of five distinct districts, the jewel of which is known as The Armature.

An important part of any CRL plan is the way in which the City will cover the cost of the project if enough development does not occur. The default fallback is always general revenue, but Kathleen said they are looking at additional funding sources as well, such as government grants.

Kathleen told me that among other things, some of the CRL money will be used for streetscape improvements, some will be used for land acquisition to consolidate parcels for resale, and lots would be used to develop The Armature. The goal is to make that part of Edmonton a much more livable area, and the redevelopment focus is on residential assets.

As I have said before, it is an exciting project for our city! You can learn more about The Quarters Downtown here.

The project will be an interesting one to pay attention to if you’re interested in CRLs, because there are still a number of steps in the process to go.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve made it this far, you should now have a better understanding of the three active CRL projects in Alberta. You can draw your own conclusions, but a few things I wanted to highlight include:

  • All three boundaries are similarly sized
  • Infrastructure upgrades and improvements are a major part of all three projects
  • In the Rivers District and Belvedere, and to a lesser extent in The Quarters, an important consideration is the amount of City-owned land

I think it is important to look at what we already have when trying to understand how a CRL could be applied to future projects. In the next part of the series we’ll do just that, using the proposed downtown arena as our future project.

Alberta’s Community Revitalization Levy:

  1. Introduction
  2. Rivers District, Belvedere, The Quarters
  3. Proposed Downtown Edmonton Arena District

Transforming Edmonton’s Downtown East: Boyle Renaissance & The Quarters

Last week I stopped by the open house for Boyle Renaissance & The Quarters, two projects that together will transform the eastern part of Edmonton’s downtown. The Quarters is a revitalization project made up of five distinct districts, extending east-west from 97 Street to 92 Street and north-south from 103A Avenue to the top of the river valley (approximately 40 hectares). Boyle Renaissance is a smaller redevelopment effort, focused on the area between 95 Street and 96 Street, from 103A Avenue north to the LRT tracks (essentially two and half city blocks).

There were maybe 20 people in attendance, not counting the City officials and representatives from the related architectural firms. In addition to the more than 25 information displays setup around the room, there were a number of small presentations on the plans.

Boyle Renaissance / The Quarters Open House

An update on Boyle Renaissance:

  • Boyle Renaissance started with a Concept Plan in 2008, and is now an evolving Master Plan composed of two phases. The project will create a community that brings together affordable and market housing opportunities, along with services such as childcare, park space, and social space.
  • The first Boyle Renaissance Advisory Committee (BRAC I) started meeting in May 2008. Its final report was submitted to the City of Edmonton in October 2008.
  • Council directed that the concept continue to evolve, so BRAC II was formed in March 2009. Its final report was published in March 2010. You can see the recommendations to council here.
  • Phase 1 project partners include The City of Edmonton, Government of Alberta, YMCA, Boyle Street Community League, and the Capital Region Housing Corporation (CRHC), among others. The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation is no longer involved in the project.
  • The YMCA Welcome Village is a key component of phase 1, and will include 150 affordable housing units, a family resource centre and a daycare. The City is contributing $3.5 million while the Government of Alberta has committed $24 million.
  • The City of Edmonton is also contributing $6 million towards a new Community Centre, a joint initiative with the Boyle Street Community League.
  • Though none have come forward yet, the City is actively looking for potential partners to occupy the York Hotel building.
  • Updated documents aren’t online yet, but you can see the information displays here.
  • “We’re not building buildings, we’re helping to build a community.”


Part of the current Boyle Renaissance site plan, facing north.

A ground breaking ceremony for phase 1 is taking place on Wednesday morning.

Boyle Renaissance / The Quarters Open HouseBoyle Renaissance / The Quarters Open House

An update on The Quarters:

  • The revitalization project began in 2006, with the Area Redevelopment Plan being passed in April 2009.
  • The Quarters is one of the first areas in Edmonton to have a community revitalization levy (CRL). The boundary was approved in 2008. It is expected that final approval of the CRL from both Council and the Province of Alberta will come in 2011.
  • Once fully developed, it is anticipated that The Quarters could accommodate a population of nearly 20,000 people. The area is currently home to just 2400 residents.
  • The area is made up of five districts: four quarters, with a linear park corridor known as The Armature at the centre.
  • The Civic Quarter is envisioned as as an extension of the downtown and arts district. The Heritage Quarter is named for the location of Edmonton’s original downtown. The McCauley Quarter will contain smaller scale buildings and is largely residential. The Five Corners Quarter is named for the intersection at 95 Street and Jasper Avenue, and will feature taller buildings and a higher overall density.
  • The Armature itself is composed of smaller pieces, from north to south: Meridian Gateway, New City Park, The Promenade, Jasper Plaza, and River Gate Park. Principles identified in the presentation include: sustainable, accessible, green, seasonal, brighter, and creative.
  • The Armature was described as the “showpiece”.
  • The Twin Towers at Jasper Avenue and 95 Street will add to the density of the Five Corners Quarter.
  • Though each quarter will have a unique character, there are plans to “brand” the entire area, so you know when you’re in The Quarters.

Here are a few images I pulled from the Urban Design Plan (16 MB PDF).


Rendering of The Quarters.


Zoning for The Quarters.


Rendering of Five Corners.

Though some might say it has been in the works for too long, The Quarters is a very exciting project for Edmonton. The area east of downtown is definitely in need of revitalization, and this plan to bring thousands of residents into the area will help accomplish that.

Boyle Renaissance / The Quarters Open House

It’s a shame that the beautiful information displays shown at the open house are not available online (at least not yet). Hopefully we’ll see more information about these projects online soon!

New Concept for Edmonton Arena in The Quarters Downtown

Earlier today, local architect Gene Dub released some conceptual drawings and a video rendering of a new arena for Edmonton’s downtown. The project would cost about $300 million, and while Dub has talked to the Katz Group they haven’t made any commitments. According to Global TV, the arena would be on the third floor of the unique-looking, reverse-cone shaped building with retail underneath.

Dub surprised everyone by unveiling his vision at a public hearing for The Quarters Downtown redevelopment plan. The new arena would be located along 103A Avenue between 96th and 97th Streets. I’ve drawn it on a map which you can see here. Currently there’s a whole lot of parking on the site and not much else. The visioning process for The Quarters Downtown began over two years ago. City Council approved the vision statement on September 26th, 2006:

The Quarters (Downtown East) will be a vibrant, healthy community comprised of five distinct areas, each with its own character, activities, and feel, structured around a unique linear park system running through the neighbourhood that provides a defining element for the community. The neighbourhood is well connected to the downtown core and river valley, yet has a distinct image that identifies it as a unique place in the city. Streets are improved with limited through traffic, making the streets safe and inviting for pedestrians and bicyclists. Large city blocks are broken into smaller, more inviting and walkable pieces. Activity abounds. There is a mix of parks, shops, employment, services, and housing. There is a diversity of ages, incomes, and cultures. Open space is surrounded by businesses and housing, creating a safe and inviting amenity year round. The Quarters is a place where community is important and pride and investment in the neighbourhood is evident.

I don’t think the proposed arena goes against that vision, but it’s not exactly a perfect fit, either. I’ve been critical of a new arena before, primarily because I don’t feel that public funding should finance the bulk of the project. I’d reconsider that if the arena was part of a redevelopment project such as The Quarters, however. It remains unclear whether or not the proposed site would be large enough for more than just the arena.

Here’s the video render:

It’s definitely eye-catching.

Wondering who Gene Dub is? He’s the architect behind Edmonton’s City Hall. His firm has received a number of awards over the years, including at least six for the glass-and-stone pyramids of City Hall. Dub also served one-term as a city councillor.

It’ll be interesting to see what becomes of this proposal – I’ll be keeping an eye on it. You can find more comments on the design here and here.

UPDATE (11/25/2008): The Edmonton Journal wrote about the concept here, with few additional details but comments from Dub and a couple councillors.