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Municipal Politics
- Thread starter Airboy
- Start date
policyenthusiast
Active Member
In plain text in case anyone is sketched out by the URL:
Edmonton City Council has approved the Public Spaces Bylaw, which marks a key step in modernizing the management of public spaces to better reflect the current needs and safety of the community.
"Like other major municipalities, Edmonton manages over 250 bylaws, ranging from business licenses to annual tax levies. Today, we consolidated three major bylaws – Parkland, Transit and Public Places – some of which date back nearly 65 years," says Michelle Plouffe, Chief People Officer and City Solicitor. "Our city has transformed, and it's crucial that bylaws evolve too, to maintain the health, safety and wellness of our community. These updates will help Edmontonians enjoy parks, river valleys and transit facilities safely and freely."
The Public Spaces Bylaw takes effect on May 12 simplifying the legal framework and eliminating redundant or confusing provisions. Key updates include:
- Streamlining food truck regulations: To support local businesses and enhance the street food culture, the regulatory process for food trucks has been simplified. This revision reduces red tape and facilitates easier operations for food truck entrepreneurs across the city.
- Event permits: To ensure public safety, protection of City assets and enhanced community engagement, the permit requirements for special events have been expanded to all City-owned property and have been revised to be applicable for events with 100 or more attendees, up from a 50-person threshold. The revised bylaw expressly clarifies that the bylaw will not be applied in a manner to prevent the exercise of fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, such as lawful protests.
- Wildlife protection: To prevent wildlife dependency, poor nutrition and disease spread, the bylaw continues to prohibit the feeding of wildlife in public spaces. A new exemption for feral cats has been introduced, allowing for collaborative input from community partners to establish best practices that effectively manage feral cat populations.
- Bicycles: To promote safe mobility outcomes, regulations have been updated based on the latest research regarding sidewalk cycling. The update continues to permit children under 16 to ride on sidewalks, ensuring younger cyclists can safely enjoy cycling in urban areas.
- ‘Direction to Stop’ and nominal fines: To improve compliance and manage public spaces more effectively, the bylaw introduces a 'Direction to Stop' authority for bylaw enforcement officers, specifically targeting minor infractions. This measure is complemented by nominal fines of $25 for certain offences, which act as a deterrent without imposing harsh penalties, especially for vulnerable populations.
- Regulation of visible drug use: To enable non-criminal regulation of drug use, the bylaw prohibits the visible possession, display, use or consumption of controlled substances in public spaces. Nominal fines have been implemented for select violations to support public health and safety while ensuring compliance through non-criminal enforcement options.
- Updates to transit space regulations: To ensure all spaces, including transit areas, remain safe, accessible and free from disruptive activities, the bylaw reinforces that transit spaces should be used solely for transit purposes, and targets the regulation of specific behaviours that interfere with the physical and psychological safety of others.
The City continues to prioritize educational initiatives and compliance before enforcement, working closely with community partners to support those in need. The Public Spaces Bylaw is part of a broader strategy to address complex social issues through clear, consistent and inclusive city governance.
CplKlinger
Senior Member
I put in the title while you were posting this; usually Skyrise autogenerates a little banner with the title, but for some reason it didn't this time.
Kosy123
Senior Member
I’m not as well versed on the public spaces bylaw as I should be but once it’s fully in effect, does this mean there’s stronger enforcement on clearing transit spaces and public drug use in downtown because of the new bylaw backing?
More food trucks is a big plus though.
More food trucks is a big plus though.
The_Cat
Senior Member
I wonder how well this law will be enforced.
policyenthusiast
Active Member
"Enforcement" isn't really the right word given the language of the bylaw amendments. The reduced fine is to make them slightly more collectable (the $500 fine was never charged), but mainly the bylaw just encourages officers to direct homeless folks to social resources.
Somewhat interestingly, the Bylaw also allows the City Manager to order people to leave entertainment districts.
David A
Senior Member
Lowering the fine sort of sounds reasonable, but I wonder if that will have any effect. I doubt many of those targeted have an extra $25 either but I suppose at least it is not a total fantasy.
On the other hand, it could encourage those that can afford it to disregard the rules more.
On the other hand, it could encourage those that can afford it to disregard the rules more.
Greenspace
Senior Member
Fiscal Gap Strategies Work Plan (from Fiscal Gap Report)
"Grow the non-residential tax base: Take actions to address the City’s declining share of non-residential tax base in the region, and the insufficient levels of real non-residential assessment growth.
Challenges
● The abundance of developable land at lower development cost in surrounding municipalities, made proximate by the Anthony Henday Ring Road, leads to increased competition for non-residential development. The real growth of taxable non-residential properties has disproportionately occurred in surrounding communities in recent years, while still benefiting from the urban services and economic attributes supported by the large centre city, such as access to global markets and a high concentration of skilled workers.
● The potential for real growth to occur in surrounding municipalities may be further exacerbated by the loss of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB) and the Regional Growth Plan, which could lead to unconstrained residential and non-residential growth in the region.
● As retail e-commerce continues to increase, it presents challenges for brick and mortar retail growth and real growth of the non-residential tax base, which may place additional 1Real growth is defined as new construction that adds value to a property. This can take the form of a new building, or an improvement to a pre-existing property. Real assessment growth measures how much new construction value is incrementally added to the tax base each year. Real assessment growth generates real tax growth, as newly constructed properties are added to the tax base and taxed like most other properties. Typically, real growth is the City’s single largest revenue growth item in the operating budget. PLAN burden on all other taxable properties. Retail is the second largest property type within the City’s non-residential tax base, comprising 29 per cent of taxable non-residential assessment.
● The impact of hybrid work has reduced demand for office space, causing reductions in the value of this non-residential property classification.
● Edmonton’s social challenges have been cited as reasons for businesses to limit their investment in Edmonton.
● Tax revenue from downtown has declined from a high of 10 per cent and a long-term average of approximately eight per cent to a three-year average of approximately six per cent of the tax base. This decline is mainly the result of a decrease in downtown office and hotel assessments that occurred during the pandemic, meaning that the downtown paid a smaller proportion of the overall property tax base than they used to, and downtown assessments have not fully recovered to the point where they make up the same amount of the tax base."
Item 7.5 - https://pub-edmonton.escribemeeting...a=Agenda&lang=English&Item=24&Tab=attachments
"Grow the non-residential tax base: Take actions to address the City’s declining share of non-residential tax base in the region, and the insufficient levels of real non-residential assessment growth.
Challenges
● The abundance of developable land at lower development cost in surrounding municipalities, made proximate by the Anthony Henday Ring Road, leads to increased competition for non-residential development. The real growth of taxable non-residential properties has disproportionately occurred in surrounding communities in recent years, while still benefiting from the urban services and economic attributes supported by the large centre city, such as access to global markets and a high concentration of skilled workers.
● The potential for real growth to occur in surrounding municipalities may be further exacerbated by the loss of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB) and the Regional Growth Plan, which could lead to unconstrained residential and non-residential growth in the region.
● As retail e-commerce continues to increase, it presents challenges for brick and mortar retail growth and real growth of the non-residential tax base, which may place additional 1Real growth is defined as new construction that adds value to a property. This can take the form of a new building, or an improvement to a pre-existing property. Real assessment growth measures how much new construction value is incrementally added to the tax base each year. Real assessment growth generates real tax growth, as newly constructed properties are added to the tax base and taxed like most other properties. Typically, real growth is the City’s single largest revenue growth item in the operating budget. PLAN burden on all other taxable properties. Retail is the second largest property type within the City’s non-residential tax base, comprising 29 per cent of taxable non-residential assessment.
● The impact of hybrid work has reduced demand for office space, causing reductions in the value of this non-residential property classification.
● Edmonton’s social challenges have been cited as reasons for businesses to limit their investment in Edmonton.
● Tax revenue from downtown has declined from a high of 10 per cent and a long-term average of approximately eight per cent to a three-year average of approximately six per cent of the tax base. This decline is mainly the result of a decrease in downtown office and hotel assessments that occurred during the pandemic, meaning that the downtown paid a smaller proportion of the overall property tax base than they used to, and downtown assessments have not fully recovered to the point where they make up the same amount of the tax base."
Item 7.5 - https://pub-edmonton.escribemeeting...a=Agenda&lang=English&Item=24&Tab=attachments
BASE
Active Member
City will be happy to see this in the budget
- $17.2 million to increase grants made to municipalities in lieu of property taxes on government-owned property to 75%, up from the current 50%. By next year, the province will cover 100% of the amount that would be paid if the property was taxable.
Greenspace
Senior Member
Also freeing up some capital for the Coliseum demo might be a bit of a windfall for this council to reduce property tax increase going into the fall election.
Kosy123
Senior Member
Property taxes lower than expected? Provincial lobbying kinda working? Possible Liberal Majority or Minority under PM Carney who might run in Edmonton and showers us in election promises?
Everything’s coming up Sohi lol
Everything’s coming up Sohi lol
Gus Haynes
Active Member
The win for property tax payers is somewhat dulled due to the fact that the province will be imposing increases on their share of property tax bill:
Gronk!
Senior Member
Gronk!
Senior Member
On the agenda: Community revitalization levy, violence prevention, transit priority
This week, council committees will meet to debate whether to extend the community revitalization levies in downtown and the Quarters, hear about the city's new plan to prevent violence, and discuss more locations for transit priority measures.
edmonton.taproot.news
- The city has developed a work plan with 11 strategies to address the gap between revenue and expenses. The action items include to review fees for all city services including transit, recreation, and parking; create a proposed policy that would ensure renewal projects are advanced before growth projects; review city-owned land to see what could be sold; and advocate for more financial support from the province.
David A
Senior Member
Review fees seems to be the round about way of saying increasing them.
With the municipal election coming up, it would be a good question to ask councilors seeking election and reelection about the position on increasing fees and pressing them if they try to give a round about answer.
With the municipal election coming up, it would be a good question to ask councilors seeking election and reelection about the position on increasing fees and pressing them if they try to give a round about answer.