Community Conversation - June 6
Thanks to everyone who was able to join our Community Conversation on June 6th at the Stanley Milner Library. This is a summary of what we talked about, and you can check out the full video here.
I began with a Ward and City update, covering the following:
Transit safety
You can see my latest blog on transit safety here.
Encampments
City staff provided an enhanced encampment response
Clear, consistent and rapid connections to supports and housing
Ensuring encampments don’t diminish individual and public safety.
Recognising that encampments represent a lack of appropriate housing and support is critical to responding effectively.
Winter Shelter Strategy review 2022-2023
Glad we are being proactive to learn lessons for next year
Smaller sites throughout the city
$7.5m in funding to Jasper Place Wellness Centre (JPWC)
$4.08m for additional day service capacity at Boyle Street Community Services and the Bissell Centre
Derelict Property Tax
Increasing tax levy for owners of derelict properties
Downtown residential conversions
Investment options for converting offices to residential or build new residential in downtown
Will come back in September
EPC and council/EPC discussion
Haven't had many touch points, looking forward to more discussion in the future
Commission doing great work to make it more accessible for people to access meetings
Imagine Jasper funded by feds (114 Street to 124 Street)
Council approved some funding, based on federal funding coming through and it did!
Funds to reinvest in municipally owned affordable housing
Federal government is investing up to $19.5m through the national housing co-investment fund to go toward refurbishments of municipally owned housing.
Also, more than $80m from the Federal government over five years toward the Canadian Critical Drug Initiative in Edmonton. The integrated research, development and manufacturing initiative is led by Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation, a not-for-profit organization, in partnership with the University of Alberta.
Natural Resources Canada has provided a $23.7m grant for Blatchford Renewable Energy! This is a fantastic investment that supports decarbonizing the neighbourhood's heating and cooling system.
Following this update, we then moved onto questions!
One participant shared a number of concerns including:
Open drug use, it’s a severe problem that needs to be addressed.
The use of the term settler as part of the land acknowledgement and concerns about reverse racism.
Intersection of Bellamy Hill and 97 Ave is dangerous.
Cllr Stevenson replied with the following information:
We funded a municipal drug poisoning response to coordinate on the ground activities but we rely on Alberta Health Services to address this health crisis
Settlers or descendents of settlers is a true statement. We don't ever want to use language that persecutes individuals for their identity or race, but calls of reverse racism usually happen when people are uncomfortable about a conversation. It can be hard to have our privilege called out and that can feel like an attack. We can choose to see this discomfort as an invitation to reflect on the privileges we have.
Bellamy Hill and 97 Avenue will be redesigned as part of the Rossdale Road Network Redesign
Another participant asked about the opportunity for us as a community to learn from implementation from the Imagine Jasper upgrades from 109 Street to 114 Street to make some improvements. How much is set in stone and how much is up for debate?
Cllr Stevenson agreed that while the streetscaping is lovely, the five lane width isn't comfortable for crossing. She shared that staff have made it clear that there won't be any changes to the street profile now. This is partly to accommodate the lost lanes on 104 Avenue, which will be much more dedicated to active transportation, so that’s a bit of a trade off. She also shared that it's not efficient for Council to weigh in on a project-by-project basis and that she's starting to think about how we address this moving forward, for example a maximum street width before planted medians are required.
An online participant shared that they feel a focus on Indigenous peoples has led to greater conflict.
Cllr. Stevenson shared that she felt addressing the truth of inequitable treatment for many years wasn't increasing conflict but instead creating opportunities for stronger communities.
An online participant asked about the status of the 107 Ave Revitalization and was specifically interested in a pedestrian crosswalk at 107 Ave and 108 Street.
Cllr. Stevenson shared that the improvements are budgeted for and would confirm timing
Post meeting follow up: the project page has a number of details. The designs are currently being finalized and construction is due to start in 2024.
We can watch the final designs to ensure there's a good crossing point at 108 Street. If not, the community could explore a Vision Zero Street Lab
A participant asked if Cllr. Stevenson could share more about Project TENSOR? What represents a successful project?
Cllr. Stevenson shared her personal key performance indicator is whether she can sleep throughout the summer with her windows open.
We do initially want to see an increase in the number of tickets, with a gradual decrease in violations as tickets become a deterrent to this behaviour
Cllr. Stevenson also shared that she hadn't been successful in advocating for additional enforcement resources during the December 2022 deliberations but is hopeful to get these resources in place as part of the fall budget adjustment
A participant shared that disappointment that Rossdale didn’t get a popup dog park. The participant also shared concern about cyclist behaviour on mixed-use trails.
Cllr. Stevenson shared that the pop-up dog parks were allocated based on gaps around the city and there are a number of dog parks in the central area of the city.
Post meeting follow up: There are seven off-leash areas in O-day'min, including: Dawson Park, Alex Decoteau Park, Grads Park, Queen Mary Park, Prince Rupert Park (119 Street), Oliver Park, and Ice District Plaza (owned and operated by OEG).
She also noted she would be supportive of funding the Dogs in Open Space Strategy, which didn't get funded at the December budget.
Cllr. Stevenson shared that the City is advocating for a regulatory framework for electric bikes and scooters .
A participant asked about the High Level Bridge rehab, including the approaches to the bridge
Cllr. Stevenson shared that we had decreased the budget for this by $70m to remove the new upper deck, or High Level Line. Staff committed that the design work going forward could accommodate the upper deck if we are able to identify $70M without any redesign costs.
Cllr. Stevenson hopes we can find this funding as part of a future budget adjustment to make the most of the investment happening.
She also clarified that the current scope doesn't include the intersections at the approach to the bridge but she would love to see improvements here in the future.
The balance is needing to wait for infrastructure to have reached its lifespan, and at that point, we can do more innovative designs.
Following questions, Councillor Stevenson provided some highlights of what was upcoming
Zoning Bylaw Renewal will be coming to Urban Planning Committee on June 20th and then at Public Hearing in October.
The fall supplementary operating and capital budget adjustments will be happening in November
Cllr. Stevenson's priorities will be enforcement for noisy vehicles, the High Level Line, and Dogs in Public Spaces
Thanks to everyone who took part on the day or following! Please feel free to reach out any time on these or other areas of interest to you.
