Blatchford Development | ?m | ?s | City of Edmonton

[CplKlinger]

Nait residential seems a bit far. I also wonder if national defence has any plan with the armoury?

It's far away from phase one of Blatchford, but the latter will get there eventually. I think it makes sense to have it near the NAIT station, and the rest of the NAIT expansion.

 

[Gronk!]

I don't know if this was asked before, but does the Blatchford site include any plans for the VIA Rail terminal? The poor terminal seems to be sitting there all alone, with no public transit service to feed it.

 

[CplKlinger]

I don't know if this was asked before, but does the Blatchford site include any plans for the VIA Rail terminal? The poor terminal seems to be sitting there all alone, with no public transit service to feed it.

Not as it stands, but that would be nice. It would certainly fit with the theme of Blatchford.

 

[CaptainBL]

I don't know if this was asked before, but does the Blatchford site include any plans for the VIA Rail terminal? The poor terminal seems to be sitting there all alone, with no public transit service to feed it.

Oh boy, it would be too forward thinking and progressive for the city to think of a vision for a proper VIA terminal in a location that makes sense linked to transit options (buses, LRT, future high speed rail, rental cars) with amenities near by that make it more of a tourist stop destination welcoming people to Edmonton. I wish there were a big plan for that poor terminal and the poor tourists that get off there.

 

[CplKlinger]

I don't know if this was asked before, but does the Blatchford site include any plans for the VIA Rail terminal? The poor terminal seems to be sitting there all alone, with no public transit service to feed it.

Also, I contacted four of the leading Mayoral candidates about this issue a while ago. Only the offices of @Cheryll Watson and Michael Oshry responded to me. I later had a call with Watson (I highly recommend doing that btw); she said this was the first time it was raised with her, and that she would look into it more. You can read a summary of our call here.

The office of Oshry said: "Michael agrees with your comments on VIA rail. It would be beneficial to have trains more convenient for all. Michael was on city council for four years until 2017 and tried to talk with railways on this issue and others with little movement forward. As you are aware, trains have a unique power in this country and really do not have to answer to any level of government. That does not mean that Michael will stop trying to achieve some of the ideas that you have written about here."

Again, if this and other issues are important to you, I recommend reaching out to the candidates and setting up a meeting with Watson. It's a great way to shape what they'll focus on, and helps to counter the much more vocal "war on car" people.

 

[CaptainBL]

Also, I contacted four of the leading Mayoral candidates about this issue a while ago. Only the offices of @Cheryll Watson and Michael Oshry responded to me. I later had a call with Watson (I highly recommend doing that btw); she said this was the first time it was raised with her, and that she would look into it more. You can read a summary of our call here.

The office of Oshry said: "Michael agrees with your comments on VIA rail. It would be beneficial to have trains more convenient for all. Michael was on city council for four years until 2017 and tried to talk with railways on this issue and others with little movement forward. As you are aware, trains have a unique power in this country and really do not have to answer to any level of government. That does not mean that Michael will stop trying to achieve some of the ideas that you have written about here."

Again, if this and other issues are important to you, I recommend reaching out to the candidates and setting up a meeting with Watson. It's a great way to shape what they'll focus on, and helps to counter the much more vocal "war on car" people.

Discussions with Cheryll are great, I had a very positive discussion with her as well and I highly recommend this to others.

With all do respect to Oshry, if he was on council for four years and lobbied rail on the issue and didnt get anywhere, why not lobby to bring transit service to the station? Although the headline is about Greyhound, it discusses the same issue with the VIA terminal, while Oshry was in council:

Editorial: Long march from bus depot a poor welcome

Let’s play Amazing Race: Edmonton Greyhound station.

edmontonjournal.com

 

[David A]

Oh boy, it would be too forward thinking and progressive for the city to think of a vision for a proper VIA terminal in a location that makes sense linked to transit options (buses, LRT, future high speed rail, rental cars) with amenities near by that make it more of a tourist stop destination welcoming people to Edmonton. I wish there were a big plan for that poor terminal and the poor tourists that get off there.

So close to the LRT, but yet so far .... Now would be a good time time to think about and plan for this, before Blachford gets all built out.

 

[IanO]

I am a train guy.
I want more train travel, not less.
We have a single passenger train a week in each direction.

 

[David A]

Discussions with Cheryll are great, I had a very positive discussion with her as well and I highly recommend this to others.

With all do respect to Oshry, if he was on council for four years and lobbied rail on the issue and didnt get anywhere, why not lobby to bring transit service to the station? Although the headline is about Greyhound, it discusses the same issue with the VIA terminal, while Oshry was in council:

Editorial: Long march from bus depot a poor welcome

Let’s play Amazing Race: Edmonton Greyhound station.

edmontonjournal.com

That is great and good to hear. Many candidates for mayor and council are fairly receptive to conversations and ideas at times like this. It is a good opportunity to plant that seed of an idea with whatever candidate people want to connect with.

 

[IanO]

Hanger 11 update:

Item 3.27

Charter Bylaw 19837 - To allow for the adaptive reuse of the historic Hangar 11 building as a mixed use building, Blatchford Area - City Council Public Hearing - September 08, 2021

pub-edmonton.escribemeetings.com

 

[kcantor]

Nait residential seems a bit far. I also wonder if national defence has any plan with the armoury?

last i heard was the city put the feds on notice they were going to expropriate and the feds promptly advised the city that it doesn't work that way when it comes to the relationship between junior and senior governments. as far as i know the feds' plans for the armoury are still pretty much status quo but i have no first hand information one way or the other.

 

[IanO]

https://pub-edmonton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=116670

 

[itom987]

It looks like NAIT wants to replace the original campus.

 

[archited]

^^^^ More like "add to" and not "replace".

 

[itom987]

^ I'm talking about image #2 compared to image #4.