News   Apr 03, 2020
 7.3K     3 
News   Apr 02, 2020
 7.6K     0 
News   Apr 02, 2020
 2.6K     0 

Edmonton's population is booming, where are all the new proposals?

Yes, connect the dots - we recently changed zoning rules to make development easier. So rather than build several high rises prominently downtown or in other select locations, there will be less noticeable mid size developments throughout older and other residential areas across the city. For once by removing restrictions, government policy is actually working as intended.
 
I see the population growth every morning when I go to work. The line ups on turning lanes are so long now that it has became a thing for assholes to skip the line and turn right at the intersection.
 
I see the population growth every morning when I go to work. The line ups on turning lanes are so long now that it has became a thing for assholes to skip the line and turn right at the intersection.

It's a good thing Edmonton is seeing a pretty aggressive LRT expansion compared to other metro areas within the same population range.

The lack of inner-city highways in Edmonton is probably going to cause uniquely bad traffic conditions should the city see 2 million people. But I think this will only further incentivize growth to occur within mature neighbourhoods and stronger demand for public transit improvements. I think the future of Edmonton looks more like Montreal than Calgary and that is a good thing.

In my opinion, the future of Edmonton is very bright, **if economic development can keep pace with population growth.**

On the other hand, I am not sure I can say the same about Calgary. As someone who grew up there, it feels as though the city is taking a slow descent into Toronto levels of NIMBYism. Gone are the days when Calgary was a young city willing to build, build, build. There is an increasingly entrenched wealthy class as a result of the oil booms that wants to see no change at all in their neighbourhoods and has adopted a degrowth attitude. There has been extreme pushback on upzoning and if no major reforms happen in the next five years we could see affordability dip to being on par with the GTA and Metro Vancouver. The Green Line which entered technical planning around the same time as the Valley Line has yet to see a single shovel in the ground besides some small utility relocation projects. The city also refuses to consider TOD despite owning huge amounts of land around LRT stations. They used to say Calgary was the Houston of Canada, but even Houston seems to be adopting more progressive forms of land-use than Calgary.
 
Go for a drive around the city, especially 149th street past 82nd after the traffic circle.

I try to take a bit of a different route from downtown to the West End and have really started to notice that a lot of the large single houses that used to dominate that street have been fenced off and demolished to build infill / skinny homes. It seems there is a new fence going up weekly around that area, even in a few of the side avenues.

construction season is starting to ramp up now that’s it’s getting warmer, and we’re not very far into the Zoning Bylaw changes. It might not be flashy, but we’re booming make no mistake.
 
Hopefully once Valley Line west is open Westblock will further be developed, Hopefully too Century Park, stationlands, millwoods town center and stadium yards can see further movement illustrating the positives of TODs which could encourage more nodes along LRT, especially at Strathern, Holyrood and Bonnie Doon.
My hope then that more LRT could be proposed and built to more TODs around the city.
 

Back
Top