The most central and most utilized greenspace in Twin Brooks is slated for townhouse development through the First Place Program, starting in 2016. This greenspace is integral to our community, and serves as our school yard and soccer fields. Please support this petition and help stop housing development on the most important greenspace in Twin Brooks. 

Background

In 2006, the two Edmonton school boards identified 20 school sites that were surplus to their needs.  The Mayor at the time, was concerned about the increase in housing prices and in consultation with the school boards, created a program called First Time Home Buyers Program (since renamed to First Place Program [FPP]).  Under this program, "Surplus School Sites" would be sold to a home builder, and the revenue would be split 50/50 with the City of Edmonton and the school boards.  The school boards could use their share for educational purposes and the city would use their share for affordable housing programs. The advantage for the first time home buyer accessing FPP was that their initial purchase price would defer the price of the land for the first 5 years of their mortgage. On the 6th year the land cost would be added back into the home owners mortgage, thus making the initial purchase price lower.

The province, school boards, and the City of Edmonton agreed and the city was allowed to remove the municipal reserve (MR) designation and rezone the SSS's as residential use. All 20 sites were rezoned at the same time (including Twin Brooks) with no attempt to take into consideration any individual differences in the physical, social, and demographic characteristics of the neighbourhoods. In 2006, Councillors Bryan Anderson and Mike Nickel attended several meetings in Twin Brooks, and were then convinced by participants that group zoning was not in the best interests of the citizens and their neighbourhoods they represented.  They were the only two city Councillors to vote against this FPP initiative as presented.  

In 2009, the school boards identified another 20 SSS's which were to be rezoned to include, in addition to park, school, and residential uses, any municipal use ( storm ponds, fire hall, library, etc).  Anderson again voted against group rezoning of eight of these sites to "seniors housing" use, because he believed each neighbourhood should be assessed individually.

Currently, of the 20 initial sites in the First Place Program, two housing developments have been built, two are underway, and the rest are scheduled to be developed in phases between today and 2019. The Twin Brooks site is slated for townhome development by Landmark Homes in 2016, with construction through 2018, and sales in 2019.

The use of the SSS's as sites for residential development is a key part of the City's infill and densification policy, and is now firmly entrenched in the minds of most City Councillors and the day-to-day activities of the City's administration. The intent of this policy is to slow down the need for new suburban neighbourhoods. However, given that the City of Edmonton is pursuing the annexation of land all the way to Edmonton International Airport, and that housing prcies have stabilized over the past eight years, the need for the FPP is highly questionable. Moreover, the loss of greenspace in current neighbourhoods will push home buyers to purchase housing in newer, more livable neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Edmonton, defeating an original tenet of the FPP. 

Please help "Save Our Greenspace" in Twin Brooks by signing this petition. Let the City of Edmonton Mayor and Councillors know that Twin Brooks values its Greenspace "central park" (soccer fields and schoolyard), and is against infill housing densification at this location.