Ongoing neighbourhood renewal work in a northeast Edmonton community is being met with a wealth of mixed reviews, with some residents saying their concerns about the project weren’t heard during the public consultation process.
The work is happening in the Hairsine neighbourhood and includes reconstruction and paving of the roads, removal and replacement of public sidewalks, curbs, gutters and street lighting.
The majority of the work currently underway is from 139th Avenue to north of 137th Avenue between 36th Street and west of Victoria Trail, as well as on 139th Avenue from 36th Street toward John D. Bracco School.
Edward Morrison has lived in the neighbourhood for years. He is unhappy with the project, saying it has decreased parking and caused major traffic backups.
Morrison said boulevards have been added, making the roads narrower. Vehicles now have less space to get through and there’s fewer places to park, he said.
“Something we don’t want is loss of parking. We don’t want this narrow road. We don’t need the boulevard. All we wanted was a new street … paved and replace the cracked sidewalks,” he said Wednesday morning.
With narrower roads, Morrison said it only leaves room for one lane of traffic to go through at a time, as there are typically vehicles parked on both sides of the streets.
He said this leads to traffic backups, particularly when buses have to stop to pick up and drop off passengers, as well as during school drop-off and pick-up.
“As you come around the traffic circle, the bus is there and, ‘Oh hey, you’re holding up a whole lane of traffic because nobody can get in,'” Morrison explained.
“Until the bus picks up and everybody gets on the bus and the bus moves, you just held up the whole lane. Where before you just go around the bus and carry on down.
“City council really dropped the ball on this.”
Resident Vanda Tally admits the change is hard. She said she went to the public consultation meetings hosted by the city but feels her concerns were not addressed.
“We tried to do a number of things to voice our concerns but really, the long and short of it is they weren’t going to listen to us,” she said.
“The beautification will be nice. More taxes, not so nice.”
Maxine Galloway also lives in the area. Her concerns include that the sidewalks are too wide, traffic has increased and the work means more tax dollars coming out of her pockets.
“We don’t need this extra (sidewalk width). The city’s not going to shovel it. Who’s going to shovel it? We are. Seniors live down here,” Galloway said, adding she went to every public consultation meeting the city held.
“Huge traffic. I went this morning to do blood work and I couldn’t see around the corner. There’s two schools. I couldn’t see around the corner for the parked cars that are there, the people that are letting their kids off, the school buses that are coming and it’s a city bus route. It’s just really congested and they’re going to lose the parking … It makes no sense.
“We didn’t need it. It’s an expense for the city. Then they raise our taxes.”
In a statement, the acting director of neighbourhood and open spaces infrastructure delivery with the City of Edmonton said the city is committed to providing a safe and integrated mobility network for everyone — including people who walk, roll, bike and drive.
“Wider sidewalks ensure the most vulnerable residents are able to move in and around their neighbourhood easier,” Steve Schmidt said. “They allow users to walk side-by-side or to easily pass another user with ease and provide much better accessibility for those who use mobility aids, such as wheelchairs and walkers, or people who are pushing strollers.”
Schmidt said the wider boulevards along 30th Street will provide a buffer between vehicles and pedestrians, as well as create space for more trees and additional landscaping features.
“To create space for the new boulevard, the roadway width is reduced. This narrower roadway works to reduce the speeds along 30th Street, which is the result of feedback provided by the community during the design phase of the project,” Schmidt said.
There are other residents, however, who see the benefits and the long-term gains for the neighbourhood.
“I like it. It’s a school zone so it’s made people slow down,” said Scott Day, who added the newly paved sidewalks are great for his daily 10-kilometre walks.
Richard Roy is also in favour of the renewal work.
“This street being very heavy for schools and students, it’s great to have the sidewalks because you have a lot of foot traffic,” he said. “It’s meeting the needs of this specific street.
“Yes, we have a little bit of nuisance that we have now, which is things closed off, but that’s going to end, right? And once it starts back to normal, the flow should be better and it should benefit us long-term.”
Area Coun. Aaron Paquette recognizes the reviews from residents are mixed and admits he’s heard from residents who are not on board with the changes.
“Some people love it. Some people are neutral. Some people really don’t like it at all,” he said.
“The people that really don’t like it, I’m listening to those voices because that’s where you’re going to learn. You learn from the people who disagree, and I share some of their concerns.”
Paquette said the renewal project has been in the works for over a year and there’s been “a lot of community consultation.” He said administration brought forward a report with the feedback they heard from area residents.
“It’s a balance,” he said. “You want to make sure it works for as many people as possible.
“I think we’ve sort of achieved that balance but there’s still some work to do. There is not the same ease of parking that there might have been previously in some places. But then there’s dedicated parking in others. So it is that tradeoff.”
Paquette added that the area school is in favour of the changes.
“With the roads that are built now, people are going a little bit more cautiously, which is great for back to school. And we’ve heard from the school that they really appreciate the wider sidewalks, the raised crosswalks.”
Paquette went on to say that “you’re never going to be able to get everyone on board on one idea,” and that he is open to hearing feedback from area residents.
“I share the same concerns that people have raised actually. I actually do. So we will be watching. I want to see how this works out because we have more renewals coming,” he said.
“The closer we can get it to perfect, that’s the goal.”