Metro 78 | 23m | 6s | Pinto Properties | Frank Hilbich

What do you think of this project?

  • I dislike it

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I dislike it a lot

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    41
Sometimes it is better to put your head down and keep working. But if anyone thought this project was dead, they don’t know our team.
Keep your ears to the ground as people say.
I'll keep checking the city's page every couple months to watch for that hearing date, I'm so happy to hear that!
 
The administration report will be available on Thursday or Friday this week. I encourage you to take a look at.

This project checks many boxes on what Edmonton is looking for not just in terms of infill.

Social equity is one of the backbones of Metro 78. It will bring housing affordability to the location. It’s not in some remote suburban neighbourhood or busy arterial road.
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Metro 78, meets many Council's policies and objectives outlined in the City Plan, but it took three years, after intense public engagement and design adjustments to get to a point where we could see the project advance to Public Hearing.

Doing the right thing shouldn’t be so hard…

Just to recap, some of Metro’s key features include:

The project will meet a set of CMHC criteria related to affordability, and the developer will commit to maintaining that affordability level for at least 10 years.

It will be a car-free environment, meaning, it does not provide any vehicle parking for residents - only bicycle parking.

It will provide one subsidized transit pass for each unit and two passes for units with two or more bedrooms for 10 consecutive years.

The developer will donate $100,000 to the community for the redevelopment of Charles Simmonds park.

The developer will build a plaza on city’s land, which will remain 100% public.

The developer will build a new two blocks long alley.

Metro 78 takes the ARP vision to another level bridging the gap between the limitations that framed the 2014 ARP vision with the 2021 City Plan vision of 2 million people.

While the ARP concept shows new infill along the corridor turning their back to the community, Metro 78 has its main entrances facing existing residences, and an inviting atmosphere to encourage them to come to the plaza.

The plaza will have plenty bicycle and scooter parking, a bicycle repair station, a coffee shop/restaurant, and a dayhome for six children.

Family housing will be duplexes with ample space for children.

Rooftop amenities will be designed to 8-80 year old with specific areas for adults and children.

Many TOD projects approved in Edmonton have a tower component and are phased according to market demands. Some phases may not be completed within a generation timeframe – they are generational TODs.

Metro 78 is a one-phase mid-rise development with no towers.

It’s a granular TOD.

My children will see it to become a reality.
 

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The administration report will be available on Thursday or Friday this week. I encourage you to take a look at.
The documents are now live! The report is here, and you can find all the other documents here (note that there are a few associated bylaws). I'll be sure to write the ward councilor (Janz) in support of this, and CC my ward's councilor, and I encourage all of you to do the same. This is an absolutely stellar proposal, but seeing as the public engagement had something like 9 in support - 110 in opposition, we shouldn't assume this will pass. We need to push for it, because this really sets a new standard for TOD infill developments.
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I'd encourage you to write to all of Council, not only Janz or your ward Councillor. They will all be hearing from those opposed. If you send it to clerk@edmonton.ca or council@edmonton.ca they will all receive it. If it only goes to the ward councillor with a smattering of others it doesn't show up in the public record and it's alot easier for them to ignore you if the opposition is more vocal. If their colleagues all know that they are also hearing from supporters as well it helps keep them accountable.

It would also be great to have positive voices, who either live in the University area or who work in the area or who use LRT or who are looking for affordable and central housing options, to sign up to speak.
 
Signing up to speak is FAR more impactful.
Yes! Those voices carry a lot of weight. And it makes a huge difference to see people rally to support publicly because supporters tend to be much less motivated and more passive because they aren't fueled by the same intensity of emotion.

But writing is quick and a simple task for those who can't or won't speak. And speakers can get drowned out, if there's been a coordinated effort ahead of time. (eg gondola - so much support at the Committee mtg and from Indigenous leadership & Elders. But none of that broke through a very misleading narrative that weaponized).

The correspondence before the public hearing helps prime them for hearing not only from naysayers. The more people share support the more they see that there's a path to support that they can justify publicly. It also helps inoculate against the idea that the opposition is large (vs the opposition is small but vocal). It helps them keep an open mind. Which is part of why I encourage writing to all of them. It's also super helpful to encourage others you know would be supportive to do the same.
 
I think it's also important to stress that this project is in McKernan not Belgravia. It's on the west side of the LRT but north of 76th Ave. The two Leagues often work together but they're very different in approach and demographics. Belgravia is alot more resourced and more aggressively opposed to redevelopment of any kind.
 

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