Coming up at City Hall and Recent Developments

River Crossing subsidy

The River Valley needs your urgent support for protection. 

The City’s Executive Committee is discussing Rossdale development this Thursday, March 26. The agenda can be accessed here: https://pub-edmonton.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=33ad610a-d3d0-4764-8b9f-1d9ab8814751&Agenda=Agenda&lang=English&Item=29&Tab=attachments. See item 7.5: River Crossing Capital Profile Adjustment. 

Essentially, Administration is asking for City Council to approve $15 million for underground infrastructure and new roads through Rossdale as phase 1 of the River Crossing and Touch the Water plans. River Crossing is a residential development project meant to bring in 2600 units of housing (including high rises) and Touch the Water is an expensive concrete “promenade” that will involve much tree cutting and transform the area next to the river from a natural area to a concrete park. This project also involves repurposing of the Rossdale Power Plant – which could be a good thing, except that the City has described its vision for this area as highly commercial rather than educational or cultural and this commercial focus could involve the gondola project that was proposed a few years ago.

Unlike with the gondola proposal a few years ago, there has been very little media coverage at all about what is being proposed for Rossdale now. This might be intentional; it is much easier to propose and approve a phased project and then say “it’s too late to turn back." It is therefore critical that anyone who opposes development in Rossdale speak at Thursday’s meeting or at least write to City Council to express their opposition. 

Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition will be speaking against the proposal due to ecological / wildlife corridor concerns, flood plain concerns, concerns with lack of Indigenous consultation and public engagement, cultural and historical concerns, and financial concerns.

Here are more details on all of those reasons:

1. Ecological / wildlife corridor concerns. This development will greatly disrupt, if not destroy, the North Saskatchewan River Valley as a functional wildlife corridor through our city. This corridor extends all the way from the Rocky Mountains to Elk Island and then Hudson’s Bay, and currently the greatest “pinch point” is Edmonton’s central river valley. We need to restore this area, not degrade it further. The recently approved Ribbon of Green strategic plan states, "As the City of Edmonton grows, the [River Valley and Ravine] System faces increasing pressure from urban development and use. The Ribbon of Green Strategic Plan helps support and sustain an interconnected System that meets the needs of the environment while providing diverse recreational and cultural experiences for those who work, play and/or live in Edmonton.” As this Rossdale project would bring an end to the wildlife corridor, it completely undermines the Ribbon of Green. 

2. Flood plain concerns. The report acknowledges that flooding is a real risk but then says nothing more about it. Flooding here is probable and perhaps even inevitable, especially considering the ecological crisis and increasing extreme weather events. The City recently allowed EPCOR to cut 577 trees in the river valley and build concrete berms as part of their $65 million flood mitigation projects around the Rossdale and E.L. Smith water treatment plants. Cities everywhere are removing concrete barriers and renaturalizing their flood plains as the only way to effectively work with water during flooding; why is Edmonton still engaging in outdated thinking and trying to do the opposite?

3. Concerns with lack of Indigenous consultation and public engagement. The report uses obfuscating language to talk about consultation: “[The project] identifies several areas of focus that seek opportunities for inclusion across various project stages: project engagement, communications and information sharing, historic reviews and monitoring, economic reconciliation and ownership and operations.” Not once does it actually say that Indigenous people were consulted, or how, or that they gave their consent for this project to proceed. What if they simply said “no, Rossdale should not be developed”? In fact, buried below in the report is the statement "Given this previous engagement and the limitations imposed by existing decisions guiding this project, the City’s engagement decision assessment process determined that engagement would not be recommended for this work."

4. Cultural and historical concerns. Rossdale was a gathering space for Indigenous Nations long before settlers arrived, and it is also the historical heart of this city. It is also a former burial ground. This cultural and historical significance should be honoured in Rossdale by leaving the area natural and incorporating existing historical structures into museums / cultural centres that tell this story. Instead, the project proposes just a small “Reconciliation Park” that is not even at the river’s edge. Instead, the river’s edge is taken up by Touch the Water, an expensive concrete promenade that will involve much tree-cutting and replace the natural aspect of this entire area. Furthermore, the only “positive” change this project can say about the important cultural history of this area is that it "will create additional space between the Traditional Burial Grounds and Fort Edmonton Cemetery and the roadway.” That’s it! And the burial ground covers a far larger area than the current memorial site. Why is the City considering building on a former burial ground?

5. Financial concerns. This project is not even financially sound. As the report says, "Revenue from land sales will partially offset development costs, but it is expected that costs will exceed revenue and the project will result in an overall financial loss. This is consistent with information that was shared with Council as part of the RCBP approval. Generally speaking, other profitable land development activities offset unprofitable projects such as this.” If the project won’t even pay for itself, why do it? Furthermore, the estimated "$840 million in construction value” of this area is just a one-off and nothing compared to the value of the land in a natural state.

Selling off and developing the river valley here is akin to killing the goose that lays the golden egg. The City would be far better off focusing on incentivizing residential development of downtown, including affordable housing units, and keeping Rossdale as parkland as an adjacent amenity for those residences. Protecting the river valley and repurposing existing historical structures in Rossdale to honour the culture and history of the area would also help create a sense of identity for Edmontonians and present a major tourism opportunity. Ecotourism is, according to many studies (example here, here, and here) the single largest tourism growth area today. 

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Please tell City Council you oppose this $15 million expenditure and Rossdale development, and that you support river valley protection and housing development elsewhere. You can do so in the following ways:

Send an email to city.clerk@edmonton.ca and ask that it be shared with the Mayor and City Council.

Register to speak at Thursday’s Executive Committee meeting: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjK1JQOPRWVORUVKsSbRn3yLN5E9vcVLu3nifMO4N1ZfmgFg/viewform

The item is 7.5 River Crossing Capital Profile Adjustment.

Thank you for your help in continuing to stand up for the river valley,

Wildlife Corridor Remains Under Threat

The new River Valley Redevelopment plan(RVARP)has passed.

The new RVARP is weaker than the old bylaw, allowing far more discretion by a single development officer. That, combined with a Ribbon of Green that embeds infrastructure that has never been subject to location scrutiny or environmental review, means we must remain vigilant. Below, find news regarding specific threats.

1) upzoning proposal in Rossdale by Eugene Dub

Soon City Council will decide whether or not to approve an amendment to the Rossdale Area Redevelopment Plan that would allow for three residential / commercial towers of up to 17 storeys and 490 units. ERVCC opposes this proposal for four main reasons:

1. Environmental impact on the wildlife corridor and bird migratory corridor. This area is an important part of the wildlife corridor and migratory bird corridor. It is currently riparian habitat and park space. As the City Plan, the Ribbon of Green, the River Valley Bylaw, the Natural Connections Strategic Plan and other city plans and policies make clear, we need to protect the river valley, not develop it.

2. The land is a flood plain. As Calgary and High River learned twelve years ago, it is a bad idea to build in flood plains. This is particularly important to understand now that we are in an ecological crisis and are seeing extreme weather events and massive flooding at unpredictable levels. It is misguided to say that because the glaciers are receding, the risk of flooding is low; the fact is that the wildfires in Alberta forests mean that all the rivers in our province have a great risk for flooding now, as the trees and topsoil that would normally slow runoff, especially in the mountains, are gone. Respecting flood plains is more important than ever. Considering the City recently granted Epcor permission to do “flood mitigation” work in Rossdale, it makes no sense to allow further development in this area. 

3. This development detracts from downtown residential development. We need more people to move downtown in order to support the businesses there. This project would detract from downtown residential development. If instead the land was protected and restored as biodiverse parkland, it would serve downtown residents (and all Edmontonians). 

4. Public and Indigenous engagement results. The public engagement process showed that nearly three times as many people oppose the project than support it, largely for the reasons above. We have also heard from Indigenous community members that they are concerned about the impacts of this project on such culturally sensitive land. 

Action: Please email city council (see their email addresses below) and tell them you oppose this project and want to see the river valley protected. You can also sign up to speak here. It is item numbers 3.13 / 3.14, “Rossdale proposed development."

2) The new bike skills park has been approved by the council.

ERVCC’s response is to look for restoration opportunities in the central valley and focus on preventing further infrastructure that could create a choke zone for wildlife. We call on all partners (bikers, walkers, paddlers, birders, etc) to help us look for opportunities in the central valley for road diets, fence removal, and other restoration opportunities.