Walker Integrated Fire Station Project (Update: Feb 2023)
February 20th 2023 Update:
Since the information session back in September 2022 (you can read more about this below), the City Council went through its budgeting process for the next four years in December 2022. The Walker Integrated Fire Station was introduced with the idea of having housing co-located on top of the station, modeled on successful co-location projects in other cities across Canada. Given the need for more affordable housing, the City developed a framework in 2018 that involved exploring all opportunities to encourage affordable housing throughout Edmonton, including co-location. During the budget, funding for co-locating affordable housing on top of the fire station was NOT approved due to the high planning/design cost which disappointingly did not yield the cost savings we were anticipating. However, funding has been allocated for the design and planning of a stand-alone fire station on that City-owned parcel of land. This project is proceeding as there is a need for more fire services in the Southeast. The fire station will be located east of 66 street on Ellerslie Road.
With the fire station, planning and design will begin this year. The land is already zoned for a fire station, so the parcel will not need to go through rezoning. As part of the planning and design process, assessment will be done by the City's traffic and transportation areas to ensure the location is safe including traffic studies and a traffic management plan. We will continue to share any relevant updates through the newsletter or my website as we receive them.
Lastly, I do want to reiterate that Housing is an incredibly complex issue - it is a major challenge, but also the solution for much of the social crises we see in the city. Having services across the city, rather than remaining concentrated in the core, is in alignment with Edmonton's Affordable Housing Investment Plan, and also meets people’s needs where they are at. We have a long history of housing in our ward, with the First Homes program introduced in the 70’s that welcomed newcomers to settle down and become homeowners. While we continue to make progress, there is also a long way to go to achieving our housing goals, with many unknowns still as our communities continue to change and evolve. Having affordable and supportive housing across the City will be highly impactful; this will remain a topic that City Council will continue to explore.
October 3rd 2022 Update:
On September 27th, 2022 I hosted an Information Session on the Walker Integrated Fire Station project (Walker Station). As indicated in a June Council report, Walker Station would be a fire / ambulance station that also includes supportive housing. Since June, our office has received an outpouring of emails, questions and phone calls from local residents on this project. While we are still in the early stages (there is no approved design, rezoning, or selected population for the housing), I wanted an opportunity to get the conversation started and in a proactive and productive way with the community. This is why I wanted to host the meeting, and share the most current and available information on this conceptual project.
To support the conversation, we had staff members from Affordable Housing, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services and Integrated Infrastructure Services present information on the different aspects of this project, including Fire Rescue, Supportive Housing and future rezoning. We also shared information on the planned next steps, and how community members can send in their thoughts and input. Please find below the PowerPoint presentation from the Information Session as well as relevant resources shared during the session:
As new project updates and information emerge, the City of Edmonton Affordable Housing team will make them available. Please feel free to directly contact this team for any questions or comments, or to sign up for their mailing list specific to Walker Station for updates (supportivehousing@edmonton.ca). If you’d like to connect separately with me, please reach out at Keren.tang@edmonton.ca. I can do my best to answer questions and am always open to a productive conversation.
Thank you again to the community for joining us.
