TALKING ABOUT INFILL
The campaign is a wonderful chance to share ideas and perspectives as we connect on doorsteps across the ward. It’s been great having the opportunity to talk about the intricacies of infill and to share my thinking on how we can provide more housing choice in our existing neighbourhoods while maintaining what makes them great places to live. I thought I would capture these ideas here for those that I haven’t had a chance to connect with directly.
Improving regulations
The new zoning bylaw regulations that went into effect on January 1, 2024 were not perfect. I’m grateful to a group of Westmount residents who took me on a walkabout this past winter to highlight some of the unintended consequences of the new rules, and for others who reached out to share their thoughts.
I was pleased to support a number of amendments to the rules to address these challenges. At Public Hearing in July, I supported changes that included:
reducing the length of midblock buildings so they don’t extend as far back on the property
limiting side entrances to improve privacy for neighbours
stronger architectural controls to improve the quality of buildings and ensure new homes make a positive contribution to the appearance of the neighbourhood
I also supported a motion that asked City staff to come back with additional regulations to further improve design and reduce the massing of new buildings. I’m committed to making ongoing refinements to improve the quality of infill in our neighbourhoods.
Number of units
At our July Public Hearing, we considered reducing the maximum number of units for mid-block properties from eight to six. While I didn’t support an immediate reduction, I did support a motion to look at the implications of taking this approach. For me it's important to understand how such a change could impact housing affordability and unit mix.
I also think it’s important to understand whether changing the number of units will address community concerns. Reducing the number of units won’t change the size or scale of buildings. All new homes - whether single homes, duplexes, fourplexes or eightplexes - all have the same allowances for height, setbacks, and site coverage. Household sizes can also vary in a way that's fairly independent from the number of units. For example, friends of ours live in a mid-block duplex in Inglewood. They are a family of five and have two extended family members living with them, with three vehicles between them. In the identical unit on the other side of the duplex, there’s a couple with no vehicles. In this way, changing the number of units doesn't necessarily mean fewer people or vehicles, but it may mean fewer choices for the range of households in our city.
I look forward to seeing further analysis on the potential of decreasing the number of units, and continuing to see how the new units are functioning in practice, which can help inform what other tools might be needed.
Parking
Aside from the physical form of new homes, it’s important to make sure they’re operating in a way that reduces impacts to the neighbourhood.
Parking is one of those considerations. Back in 2020, the City moved to open option parking, which allows property owners to choose how many parking stalls they need. Information about the technical studies and surveys that went into open option parking can be found here, but I wanted to highlight a few important points.
The first is that we currently don’t require that residents park in their private parking spots. Many Edmontonians enjoy the flexibility of parking in their garages or on the street and in this way, expanding the number of parking spots on private property won’t necessarily change how many people are choosing to park on the street.
We also have a range of data that shows that, especially in core neighbourhoods, there is more likely to be a mix of households with and without cars. As far back as 1973, this trend of lower car ownership in central areas was seen. More recently, the 2016 Federal Census found that in O-day'min, 54% relied on driving or being driven, versus 42% that took transit, walked, biked or other methods of travel. In the nearly 10 years since, we've significantly expanded other transportation options with additional LRT routes, bike lanes, and shared use paths, which can support households needing one or no vehicles. As highlighted on page 19 of the Open Option Parking technical study, car ownership is lowest in multifamily homes, renter households, and centrally located neighbourhoods.
Findings from a 1973 parking study, showing that car ownership is generally lower in smaller, more centrally located units, a trend that has continued over the decades.
A recent review by City staff found that the average eightplex is providing four parking stalls, which is roughly aligned with what the data tells us smaller, renter households are likely to need. There may always be outliers - from our friends’ duplex example above to a single detached home in Prince Rupert that has four large pickup trucks. If on-street parking does become congested, we have a range of tools that can be introduced, like time limits or residential parking permit programs. We’ve started to look at revising our current approach through the Curbside Management Strategy with a report due to Urban Planning Committee in the second quarter of 2026. I’m committed to ensuring robust public engagement to develop a practical and workable approach to curbside parking.
Waste
Waste bins is another area where we’re continuing to evolve the requirements and provide practical solutions. Waste Services has agreed to allow two units to share one bin, helping to reduce the number of bins that need to be accommodated on site. These requirements can continue to be refined based on any practical challenges that emerge as more units become occupied.
Infrastructure
In terms of sewer and drainage requirements, EPCOR works closely with the City to evaluate individual projects to determine if any upgrades are needed. Many mature neighbourhoods have a lower population than they did in the 1970s and water consumption overall has decreased per capita, meaning that many systems are overbuilt and have excess capacity. In cases where upgrades are needed, the City will place a condition on the permit and the developer will be required to pay for that. The City does have an Infill Infrastructure Fund but this is only available for projects of 10 units or more and wouldn’t be used for eightplexes. EPCOR has also created a program to ensure that fire hydrant needs are met through the redevelopment process. It’s worth noting that upgrading this infrastructure, if necessary, is not nearly as costly as the lifetime costs of servicing new suburban land.
Construction practices
The construction process can be disruptive for neighbours and we have to do more to protect Edmontonians from bad builders. I’m proud to have supported the introduction of the Construction Accountability Program, which includes escalating penalties for bad builders that can lead to the City no longer issuing permits to them. I’ve also been advocating for more construction enforcement resources, including a dedicated Infill Compliance team that would proactively inspect infill construction sites. I’d additionally like to see the reintroduction of the Infill Liaison Team, which used to provide support and services for neighbours of infill. These are all critical resources to have in place to make infill workable in our existing neighbourhoods.
City lands
The City is committed to using the lands we own to accommodate redevelopment, including surplus school sites, the Exhibition Lands, and Blatchford among others. To achieve our growth goals, we need these developments and other forms of infill as well. For context, Blatchford is envisioned to have 30,000 people at full build out, whereas we’ve added 200,000 new residents in the past four years alone. We need a both/and approach to ensure we can accommodate our growth in the most sustainable way possible.
What’s next
It’s essential that we continue to improve our infill policies and practices, and I’m hopeful about the path we’re currently on. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a chance to visit some of the completed eightplexes and meet the new neighbours living there. I’ve been encouraged to see these new homes are helping to meet the housing needs that we hoped they would. In one building in Queen Mary Park, I met a family with two young boys running around in one unit, and in another, a woman who had retired just the week before. In Spruce Avenue, I met NAIT students who were now able to live just a block away from school.
We will need ongoing refinements to our infill regulations as we move forward and the input of neighbours will continue to be vital in this work. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has shared their feedback to make sure infill can work better for everyone.
