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Miscellaneous

The basement of Fort Saskatchewan's city hall is being developed into office space. This is the final part of the building's renovation, so I thought I'd bring it up here. The renovation saw the library and city hall, which were previously next door to each other, brought under the same roof and expanded a great deal. There's no good before pictures from what I can find, so here they are on streetview. The library is the brick building on the left, and the city hall is to the right. Here they are on streetview after the project was completed. The council chambers were renovated but stayed in the same spot; offices for staff and the mayor moved to the upper floors. The library stayed in the same spot but was renovated and expanded.

This was a controversial project. In 2008, city council, led by then-Mayor Jim Sheasgreen, tried to pass a bylaw that would let the city borrow $25 million for the $21.7 million project, which would be paid back over the course of 25 years. Then-councilor and current Mayor Gail Katchur put forward a motion that the project be put on hold so that a public plebicite on the design could be held, due to the amount of public opposition to the borrowing propsal. This motion was denied 6-1. So, a group of citizens successfully collected over 2900 signatures demanding that such a vote be held. The original $21.7 million design was dropped, and residents voted in June 2010 on a watered-down $18 million design. The designed passed the (nonbinding) plebiscite, and it officially opened in 2013.

Note: I cannot find articles about this on our newspaper's website due to how long ago it was, but I used a database using my student account to find stories and confirm the accuracy of what I am saying.
 
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Fort Saskatchewan and Strathcona County are applying for a provincial grant to fund a study that would investigate two things: Whether they should jointly own and operate a larger fire station (rather than independently building smaller ones that were already in the works), and where such a station should be located. More details will be released if the grant is approved and the study goes ahead.
 
It looks like a new house (Berkshire Homes) is going to be built just across the street from the old Rossdale Brewery building. There was an old house there, the last time I was by in the summer, but has now been demolished.
IMG_1396.JPG
 
TimETown said:
Interesting. I don't remember what was there before. Anyone know if it was a 100-plus-year-old house?
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It was. I did an extremely brief (and dated) write up on it years ago if anyone's interested. The home, while not particularly significant architecturally, was noteworthy. Its small-scale, unadorned character reflected the once predominantly working class nature of community, and it was the last of a set of identical quadruplets that once lined that side of 101st. Perhaps most importantly, however, was that it was one of the last survivors of the disastrous 1915 Flood still standing in Rossdale — it featured in quite a few pictures taken during the event.
 
Avenuer said:
The new Affordable Storage will be 5 storeys and looks quite decent for a storage building (metal cladding and glass facade) and murals on the north and south concrete walls.
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C.2. Affordable Storage - 10555 – 116 Street NW (Development Permit)
Svetlana Kaznacheeva - Riddell Kurczaba

Motion of non support

The Committee notes the following:
● The proposed facade above the main floor does not provide sufficient
articulation or transparency. The opportunity to construct to the side property
lines underscores the importance of the design of the front facade of the building.
● The landscape plan is lacking a proper landscape schedule, specific layout
information and utility setback requirements. It is noted that many of the
selected plants are not suitable (e.g., size, form, adjacency to existing utilities,
etc) for the proposed frontage beds along 116th Street.
● The proposed boulevard tree planting will require the removal and burying of
existing overhead power lines. This should be confirmed and the landscape plan
adjusted accordingly. In addition, the boulevard redevelopment should
incorporate City of Edmonton Complete Street components.
● Vehicular access from the rear lane should be explored, to maximize
opportunities for public realm enhancement and minimize conflicts with
pedestrians.

CARRIED
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This was also reviewed:

C.2. Mustard Seed Neighbour Centre - 10080 - 51 Ave NW (Development Permit)
Cassey Bush- INDEVELOPMENTS

Motion of support with conditions

The Committee recommends that the applicant:
● Reassesses proposed lighting strategies, in particular, lighting along the laneway
● Considers opportunities for community art along west facade
● Revisits the proposed design for the building frontage, and in particular, the
layout for the seating area, planters and bicycle racks, to improve access/egress
and movement, eliminate conflicts with door openings, establish an appropriate
public/private interface (eg. planting beds) between street and entry/seating area,
and support facility programming requirements

CARRIED
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Kind of curious what 2021 is going to look like for any new tower construction. As of now, there is nothing in the excavation phase. Everything currently in construction should probably be topped out by ~August with CNIB building and the Holyrood Gardens Tower last. Covid and low oil price can't inspire much confidence in starting multi-million dollar developments, but with a metro area of 1.5 million people, there should generally always be a couple new projects on the go. Will be interesting to see what projects end up going forward in the next couple months.
 
jason403 said:
Kind of curious what 2021 is going to look like for any new tower construction. As of now, there is nothing in the excavation phase. Everything currently in construction should probably be topped out by ~August with CNIB building and the Holyrood Gardens Tower last. Covid and low oil price can't inspire much confidence in starting multi-million dollar developments, but with a metro area of 1.5 million people, there should generally always be a couple new projects on the go. Will be interesting to see what projects end up going forward in the next couple months.
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Just a guess here, but could there be more projects starting around mid 2021 onwards? Especially if COVID calms down and international immigration starts ramping up once again and exceed pre-pandemic levels?
 
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