THE SURVEY FINE PRINT:
Your address is required to ensure the feedback collected is from residents of ward papastew. You are welcome to share it with friends, neighbours, or elsewhere-- but the respondents must live in the ward and provide verifiable contact information.
DISCLAIMER: DEVELOPER DONATIONS
As with my previous campaigns, I have been clear that I will not accept a single dollar from developers, unlike my opponents who are running for municipal political parties. I am running as an Independent candidate so that I only represent you, and my actions are not influenced by party leaders, insiders, or special interests.
As your City Councillor, I've been leading the charge to make infill homes better-- better looking, better sized, and better fitting the context of our local neighbourhoods. There are many changes that I've proposed that were successfully passed at council, and others that were not.
I've hosted meetings, webinars, community gatherings, attended community league meetings, construction site visits, brought in guest speakers, knocked on doors, and demonstrated my commitment to listening, learning, and refining.
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
This is not just another political or city survey. As a resident of our ward, filling in this survey is very important to
1) Help ensure that your voice is heard, and specific block by block feedback can be noted.
2) Help me strengthen advocacy to the future Mayor and Council colleagues, especially those that do not have much infill in their wards.
3) Provide me with an opportunity to further engage you in the future when items come forward for debate.
4) Identify gaps or areas for concern that have yet to be addressed.
BACKGROUND ON THE ISSUE TO DATE:
We all love Edmonton and want to live in a financially prosperous community that can support strong public services and provide housing choices for all ages, wages, and stages of life. Edmonton’s population has grown over 150,000 people in the last three years. As we wrestle with decades of unsustainable urban sprawl, building in, not out, has become an imperative. We need infill, but it must be much better.
My primary focus remains on Transit Oriented Development (TOD), by focussing infill growth within 400m of an LRT station. This will reduce the demand for mature neighbourhood infill and address growing population demands.
Changes I have advanced and supported:
● I put forward a motion to improve design standards on infill including reducing the size of the building, reducing the number of side entrances to two, increased side setbacks, reduced building length, and a number of architectural design requirements. This is most critical for middle block homes.
● I moved a motion that ensures infill is now restricted to no more than half the length of the lot.
● I moved motions to ensure infills look like a house, and face the street, not the neighbours. New infills will also have more windows (from 5% to 15% on the face) and more architectural elements.
● I have supported a private property tree protection bylaw and supported increased tree replacement and preservation. The private property tree bylaw did not pass but I remain committed to pursuing this further.
● The Construction Accountability Program, rolling out this year, enforces stronger penalties on developers that don’t follow the rules. Repeat offences will be met with escalating penalties and the option to revoke and refuse building permits.
More to be done and my commitments:
● Changes to the waste program are forthcoming to reduce the number of waste bins and support communal bins.
● Landscaping deposits are going to be proposed this fall.
● While almost all infills have at least 50% parking, I support creating a new parking demand management strategy to help address current or future parking issues.
● Regular infrastructure reporting and assessments. Currently, if new services or upgrades are required, they are paid for by the builder. EPCOR has said that they do not have concerns related to the water supply or storm water sewer capacity.