*UPDATE: On Sept. 13, the city signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with Regency Developments to allow the company to proceed with construction of underground infrastructure at the site since council deferred the public hearing and decisions on the proposed project.
City council let the clock run out on its final public hearing of the term, so the developer wanting to build a 1,200-unit apartment complex on 85 Street, between 95 and 90 Avenues north of the traffic circle never got to present his arguments. Same story for the 29 people who signed up to oppose the plan.
There were too many agenda items slowing the process Monday.
Based on how many people were lined up to speak to the rezoning, Mayor Don Iveson estimated it would take at least nine hours to handle the one item, let alone everything else that was on the agenda.
“There may simply not be a time where everyone is available to do that,” he told reporters during one of the breaks in the session.
Council agreed to hold a public hearing on the matter in November.
The question now is how does Regency Developments approach this? Iveson’s suggestion is council has clearly signalled high density development is the desire, although the specific details aren’t known. One option he said would be to do the extra utility work anyway, ahead of the eventual public hearing that likely will come late this year.
“There’s already zoning to build medium, mid-rise higher density buildings there, so I think all indications are that the site is going to go, and I think people want to see the site go,” Iveson said. “It’s just getting through the process and nailing down all of the details.”
WATCH BELOW: A massive proposal could change the face of a core Edmonton neighbourhood. People in Holyrood will gather Thursday evening for an open house about a residential development that includes seven towers. Vinesh Pratap filed this report when the proposal first came up in January.
However Stantec’s Simon O’Byrne, working for Regency said it’s not that easy. His client is facing a seven-figure bill, so wants exact specs on how many units will be built, and where, and what kind of capacity is needed by March 1.
“So TransEd starts construction of the LRT station there, and once that starts then they’re in a real pickle of what options are available,” he said.
“Not knowing in terms of what sized pipes you’re building, if you’re building for this many people or that many people, if council were to say ‘we want density to be changed and be more located here, than there’ then it has an implication in terms of what goes underground, and the size of the pipes and the location of those pipes as well.”
O’Byrne also said another complicating matter is the work EPCOR will have to do. He said their queue of work orders is large and wonders if the city has the ability to have this project move up the priority list at some other project’s expense.
He said it’s even more complicated because EPCOR’s drainage work is no longer under direct control of the city.
“The city, it’s in their best interest to get the maximum ROI in terms of as many riders as possible using the LRT and if we can put a lot of people in immediate proximity to the LRT then that’s good terms of ridership and the type of city building that we’re after.”
City council may adress the clock running out at its Tuesday regular meeting, which also has a packed agenda and could spill into Wednesday.
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