Station Lands Pedway
Urban Planning and Economy, UPE00548, Station Lands, Presentation to Executive Committee, June 14, 2021
On Monday (January 24), Council looked at the Station Lands project downtown and discussed a motion that would have canceled funding for a pedway under 103A Avenue, to instead fund other public amenities. We had a really thoughtful discussion about the future of our downtown and ultimately the motion didn't pass. I voted “no” to this motion - I want to see this project move forward, with the pedway funding in place. I wanted to share my thoughts and let you know why.
View the recording and the motion here: Item 8.6 - Station Lands - Downtown Community Revitalization Levy.
The pedway is part of a deal with Qualico, which is building a mixed-use residential tower along 103rd Avenue, as part of the Station Lands project. The pedway would provide a connection between Churchill LRT Station, the Royal Alberta Museum, and the Station Lands development. The City has already agreed to provide $26 million in funding to it, and has proposed that it come from the Downtown Community Revitalization Levy (CRL).
The view from Ward Karhiio
On the campaign trail, I often heard residents of my ward say that they don’t go downtown because there’s nothing to draw them there, with the way things are right now. In the last year, we’ve seen some significant losses in downtown investment that have already had impacts on the city. If not felt now, these impacts will be felt in the years to come.
Big picture thinking for our City
This project is not just a single pedway project, at a single point in time. It’s important that Council thinks about what we want downtown, and Edmonton, to look like, in the next decade, the next 100 years. The decisions we make now for projects like this will have a lasting impact. Do we want infrastructure that will catalyze more investment in our core? I do. Do we want affordable housing? I do. And I don’t believe that it has to be a choice between supporting this project or supporting affordable housing and public washrooms. It can be both/and. Neither of these can actually be funded by the Community Revitalization Levy (CRL) under the existing bylaw. We will have other opportunities to invest in affordable housing and public washrooms. This isn’t an either-or conversation. If any Council knows, this is the Council that absolutely understands the importance of affordable housing for our city’s wellbeing. And we are not talking about a one-time deal where Station Lands means we forego the opportunity ever to develop affordable housing. That is a false choice.
Supporting district energy
Transformation is something we’ve discussed a lot as a Council, and now is our chance. More than a pedway, this is a utility corridor. You may not know about the district energy potential of this project: completion of the pedway would provide a way for future expansion of the Downtown District Energy system to include connections to Station Lands and other sites north of 103A Avenue. More than a downtown revitalization project, to me, this is about scaling our vision for district energy and the energy transition plan.
No, pedways aren’t great urban design, but the City has also committed additional funding to outdoor publicly accessible spaces - to make 103A Avenue (between 97 street and 101 street) more green and walkable in conjunction with the pedway.
Urban Planning and Economy, UPE00548, Station Lands, Presentation to Executive Committee, June 14, 2021
Downtown investment is investing in Edmonton
When we position ourselves for global competition, downtown is inevitably part of Edmonton’s brand.This project will bring more investment in our downtown, and I believe that it will encourage investment in affordable housing and public infrastructure, too. So actually the leveraging of the CRL dollars can have a greater impact than what it looks like on the surface, leading to greater business, arts and culture, and social investment opportunities in downtown and adjacent communities like Chinatown. This project would sit in a prominent spot in relation to Chinatown. Having been part of many conversations about Chinatown revitalization, as a community member, I can say quite frankly that Chinatown has been chronically underinvested in, under-revitalized, and overlooked, well before COVID started.
We’ve always said city-building takes everyone, and we have worked hard to evolve our relationship with the development industry from one of antagonism to one of partnership. It’s not smooth sailing all the time but I think this is important to note. We’ve worked hard to build-in tools and mechanisms to support this partnership approach and to address risk, making sure we are leveraging and maximizing public dollars for the best return, knowing that City alone cannot do it all. Multiple decisions were made on this project by previous Councils, based on recommendations from City staff, and the Edmonton Design Committee (who reviewed the project twice and supported it with conditions). I think it’s important to uphold the integrity of our decisions.
This is an exciting opportunity to leverage public money for a transformative project. This site has sat empty for decades. Station Lands has immense potential and if we pull the plug now, we’re not only foregoing one piece of the project (a pedway), but a sizeable downtown investment and all the possibilities it may bring.
