Another mayoral candidate is weighing in on how infill housing should be handled in Edmonton.
Tony Caterina, a former city councillor, said Monday that he believes the way the city is handling infill housing is not working.
He said he thinks the city’s current bylaw on such developments should be killed, and the city should go back to how it was handling these developments a year and a half ago.
“Dig down a little deeper, and go through neighbourhood by neighbourhood (and ask), ‘Is this appropriate for what you see around you?'” Caterina said. “This is not appropriate at all.
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“In many places infill is a good thing, but with this blanket bylaw, it’s not just infill, it’s infill on steroids.”
City council is currently considering capping midblock row housing at a maximum of six units rather than eight. A public hearing started Wednesday and was extended into Friday.
City council has now heard from all the speakers and will be asking questions to administration on Tuesday.
Caterina said typically when city council is approaching an election like it is this fall, it pushes hot-button issues on to the next council.
“These are big decisions, and for this council to try and push all this through as quickly as possible, before we get a new council and a new mayor, I think this is the wrong thing to do,” he said.
“I think this is going to be the No. 1 issue for this election. It has surpassed high taxes and over-the-top spending.”
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