Edmonton anticipating most successful infill construction season yet: city

It may not seem like it with the recent snowfall, but it’s spring and that means infill construction is underway.

Mayor Don Iveson was on-hand to launch the 2017 infill construction season Tuesday morning.

“Infill helps make the best use of our existing infrastructure and creates more housing options for Edmontonians and their families, which is important for the social sustainability of our city over the short and long term,” Iveson said.

The city believes this construction season will be the most successful for infill projects because of the work it has done to educate Edmontonians and builders, as well as establishing rules and regulations to make the process smoother.

READ MORE: Infill development continues to progress in Edmonton but faces challenges

In January, City of Edmonton staff completed an Infill Roadmap Summary Report, which includes feedback from the public that helped develop changes to how the city engages with both infill developers and neighbours of infill.

“We’ve really listened, to industry, stakeholders and Edmontonians,” Livia Balone, development and zoning services director, said. “The result is a robust set of infill initiatives that are starting to really make a difference in how infill in Edmonton can and should be done.”

The infill construction initiatives include:

• Development permit notification signs
• Infill design competition
• Infill pre-application meetings
• Construction site management acknowledgement form
• Fines increased across community standards bylaw, traffic bylaw and zoning bylaw
• Construction hours reduction

The city has also released four new videos to educate builders and Edmontonians about infill. Three of the videos focus on good infill construction practices, while the fourth video explains how neighbourhood services are funded across the city and how infill can help use the existing infrastructure.

READ MORE: By the numbers: 2 years into Edmonton’s infill housing process

In January, the city had met 15 of its 23 targets as part of its Infill Roadmap, which was launched in August 2014.

Some of the 15 goals that have been met include:

• Setting up an infill website to provide updated information on infill projects
• Signs required on all infill building sites to let neighbours know about upcoming development
• Creating Good Neighbour Guide
• Launching a Community Infill Panel (made up of residents, community leaders and builders to give feedback to city administration)

For more information on Edmonton’s residential infill plan, visit cityofedmontoninfill.ca.