Edmonton\u2019s city council has decided to reduce the maximum building height for new housing in mature neighbourhoods to 9.5 metres from 10.5 metres.<\/p>\n
The 10-3 vote in favour of changing the height of new infill builds was made just before midday, during the third hour of a public hearing on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
Mayor Andrew Knack acknowledged some people would not be satisfied by the change, but said he is \u201cvery comfortable\u201d with it, and would continue to allow Edmonton to be a \u201cleader in North America for our standard zone, while noting that there are the opportunities to rezone if folks are looking to do something more.\u201d <\/p>\n
He added the passing of the bylaw would \u201ccontinue the great work that has materialized\u201d and that it addresses what he thinks is a \u201cthoughtful need to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis change won\u2019t be enough for some but it does respond to what I think is some legitimate feedback from folks who are feeling there could be a little bit of an adjustment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Knack said the vote in favour would bring the city \u201cmore in scale with what has been allowed for development since about 2017 or \u201918, with the added ability to add in a few extra units from what used to exist in 2017 and 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this is not a walk-back in the sense of it\u2019s going to restrict unit counts, it\u2019s not going to undo the great work on affordability,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is going to be responsive to I think a wide variety of Edmonton voices who understand the need to continue the work that we\u2019re doing while also being thoughtful as we just continue this journey together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monday morning\u2019s decision came almost three weeks after council deferred the vote on the bylaw on April 7.<\/p>\n
Knack said concerns had been raised at that earlier meeting about who the change was for, with the premise of that concern stemming from \u201cthe fact that the people who had registered to speak either in favour or opposed, were that \u2018every one of them would be unhappy.’\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThose that would want to see more change was \u2018this is not enough,\u2019 and those that wanted to see no change are worried about \u2018this being somehow the thing that would end housing affordability or ending housing choice,’\u201d he said of the discussion at the previous public hearing.<\/p>\n
Under the newly-passed regulations, developments in RS zones \u2014 the most common form of infill housing \u2014 would face a reduced maximum wall height of 9.5 metres, down from 10.5 metres. Structures with pitched roofs could still reach 10.5 metres at their highest point, provided the design slopes down to meet the lower wall-height limit.<\/p>\n
City council originally introduced the bylaw as a middle ground in response to concerns about the overall bulk, or \u201cmassing,\u201d of new builds, while still permitting three-storey construction. It also outlines a new approach for modifying existing homes \u2014 property owners could apply for a variance to make additions or exterior changes that exceed the 9.5-metre wall limit, as long as the overall height does not surpass what was approved in the original development permit.<\/p>\n
Also in support of the change, based on his belief it would be \u201ca step in the (right) direction,\u201d Ward pih\u00easiwin\u00a0Coun. Mike Elliott said he had heard from \u201ceveryone\u201d on this issue, including the Edmontonians who feel that \u201cthe boxiness of the sheer scale of the new infill has been fundamentally at odds with our established neighbourhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReducing the maximum height from 10.5 to 9.5 is a step and effectively lowers the ceiling on visual impact of new builds, and I hope encourages more respectful roof lines that better aligns with other houses such as bungalows,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, I do acknowledge that I\u2019ve heard from many folks who feel that this hasn\u2019t gone far enough and I know others feel opposite of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the one-metre reduction helps, the reality is a 9.5-metre building can still be built anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new rules will be in effect Aug. 1.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
sasteger@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n x.com\/SarahKateSteger<\/a><\/p>\n @sarahstegs.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.<\/a><\/p>\n You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edmonton\u2019s city council has decided to reduce the maximum building height for new housing in mature neighbourhoods to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3561,1642,1772,52,2200,11128],"class_list":{"0":"post-22555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-andrew-knack","9":"tag-city-council","10":"tag-david-bloom","11":"tag-edmonton","12":"tag-housing-affordability","13":"tag-infill-housing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}