After hundreds of speakers and days of discussion, the debate on infill is over at Edmonton City Council for now. One day after the vote, mixed reaction is pouring in with some saying the changes don’t go far enough.
That includes Chris Davies. Davies has lived in the Crestwood neighbourhood for 37 years. But that comes to an end on Sunday, after selling his home.
“I suppose with what’s happened with the LRT, all the noise and the development side, it helped make the decision a bit easier,” said Davies. “There’s a lot of frustration on this block, a lot of people are very concerned, and I hear it from other members of the community as well.”
Across the street from his house, two eight-unit infill buildings are under construction. Throughout the day, residents hear loud construction noises and compressors running.
Davies was hoping city council might change some rules regarding infill Tuesday, but that didn’t happen.
“The vote (Tuesday) was clearly an embarrassment, two of the councillors are not there to vote, one of them is running for mayor, that’s ridiculous. Take responsibility for what you’re doing. It’s just an insult to communities and to taxpayers,” Davies said.
Councillors voted to maintain the current regulations, which allow infill properties to have a maximum of eight units.
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The vote passed with a slim margin of 6 to 5. Those in favour were Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, Councillors Aaron Paquette, Erin Rutherford, Anne Stevenson, Karen Tang, and Jo-Anne Wright.
Councillors Michael Janz, Andrew Knack, Karen Principe, Jennifer Rice and Ashley Salvador voted in opposition.
The two councillors absent were Sarah Hamilton and Tim Cartmell. They were both away on vacation.
Council did add design regulations. New rules will increase side setbacks and limit projects in side yards to accommodate space for landings, stairwells, windows and paths.
“We are going to get tough on bad infill developers. We’re gonna do more enforcement, and we are modifying the building envelope in making it smaller,” said Mayor Sohi.
“I think we are responding in the way that will help deal with real concerns and impact on the community.”
The Infill Development in Edmonton Association, IDEA, a group that advocates for high-quality infill, believes council’s decision was fair.
“They struck a balance and made a compromise by making accommodations for the massing concerns that residents had, and combined that with the ability to maintain density,” said Sean Sedgwick, with IDEA.
However, Sedgwick is worried about what the reduction of building length could do for construction.
“It’s not going to be easy for builders to respond to that, but we also realize that we live in a society and we have to respond to what people’s concerns are,” Sedgwick said.
City council will be revisiting the conversation on maximum units for infill lots. But that discussion won’t come until public consultation is complete, with a deadline at the beginning of 2027.
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