It is up to the City's Administration to have compliance for the applicable policies.  A public hearing is coming up on September 9 that if approved will include a permit to demolish a major building in the neighborhood. To request to speak at the next hearing please contact City Clerk 780 496 8178. You can also submit written comments to City Council through the Office of the City Clerk (city.clerk@edmonton.ca). The link to register is here.
If this is chosen for discussion it would be the best opportunity to voice feedback and concerns as a community that this can potentially impact the area see the position of the administration available at the city website for meetings. The attachment two is available on the agenda item 3.10 for a description of the project and the other documents are available in the agenda items for September 9 here.

I sent a request to the City of Edmonton planning Branch Department as to how our communities have been impacted and the Virginia Park community in particular has had to endure many unique changes; concerns responded to by the City administration is also being provided. We have only one opportunity to ask about rezoning (Notice was made official) and a contact for this opportunity was made available to the area encompassing all properties within the boundaries of 112 Avenue, Wayne Gretzky Drive, Ada Boulevard and 74 Street with most of these types of buildings near are Urban Institutions.  Comments were made available as of June 29, 2024 and the actual public hearing is September 9, 2024 at City Hall which is currently the first time the reading will be available for Bylaw 20931 - To allow for medium scale housing, Virginia Park. The same planning branch for the city supports this rezoning, and the public needs to have input. 
1. It is incompatible to have a building design that is not being made available prior to any rezoning for this project. If there are other projects that go ahead and for the completion of any amendments these include changes to Edmonton’s Urban Growth Areas which should be addressed.

2. When the rezoning has been made available this was not entirely clear who were the recipients as only a portion of the residents; a total of 106 were notified and there are over 790 residents which means only 13 % of the entire neighborhood has actually been notified and that is less than the last engagement with the community which includes both apartments and single detached homes. According to the last municipal census there are 42.5 % living in homes and 55.5 % living in apartments (1-4 storeys) and 2% institutional duplex for adult supportive care in the community. 

3. The attached link is to what is allowed in a Residential Medium Scale zone or RM for more details please access the Guide to Charter Bylaw 20001 May 2024 document here on p.19/70.  This has made it easier for the administration and city but not the residents and I feel that to quote one of the Climate Resilience Planning and Development Actions “There is a gap in climate-focused guidance for public lands, parks, infrastructure and for neighbourhood design.” This will be a maximum height of up to 28.0 m or 8 storeys and Virginia Park residents are not mentioned - as community members to the west of this project.

Stantec Consulting on behalf of Ever Red Estate Developments Ltd. has submitted the application. The proposed Medium Scale Residential Zone (RM h28.0) would allow development with the following key characteristics:

● Medium scale housing to a maximum building height of 28.0 m (approximately 8 storeys).

● A minimum density of 90 dwellings/unit.

● A maximum floor area ratio (FAR) of 3.8 with opportunity for bonus FAR.

● Opportunity for limited commercial uses, to a maximum of 300 m2 per individual establishment, on the ground floor of a residential building.

● Opportunity for community uses.

4. All available green space and the connectivity to the River Valley to the south and on the boulevard are limited when neighborhoods which are currently accessible only on private roads would be also a challenge. As this is most likely to be a private access to this project, it will also limit or even be less access to these community spaces.

The City Plan also integrates the Edmonton's Community Energy Transition Strategy and Action Plan, 2021 - 2050. The goal is by 2025 to reduce community-based net greenhouse gas emissions by 35% (compared to 2005 levels) and to help communities and stakeholders in energy transition. It would also be one of the reasons that households could  improve on our future carbon budget to invest in more household energy resilience, adaptation and innovations rather than an 8 storey building that  causes an increased amount of light pollution, less connectivity, water and sewer lines which will need to be addressed, and a request for more fire hydrants are also the other factors dealing with the energy codes for Residential Development Metric and Developing Area Dwelling Unit Capacity. The City will acquire more sites for supportive housing to reach its goal of building 900 new units in all areas of the city by 2024 from a statement for the city during the last budgetary meetings.  Therefore those administrators who have access to the projects would have to prioritize these and although 19 priority growth areas are currently being implemented by the City administration that the community, stakeholders who would have had a voice will not in this case. Ongoing issues related to this include the fact that the City administration has passed on many other funding projects and programs such that these strategies are now impacting our communities.

I support housing and want the investment in our communities to be energy efficient and we are increasingly in a position to off set these green house gas emissions but as the community has been only provided for these updates the housing will continue to be a challenge. “Edmonton still has one of the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions levels in the world (18 tonnes/ person). The four major sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Edmonton are:
Transportation – 31% of Edmonton’s total emissions;
 Manufacturing, industry and construction – 27%; Commercial and institutional buildings – 20%; and Residential buildings – 18%.” See  Edmonton's Community Energy Transition Strategy and Action Plan, 2021 - 2050 page 13.

Lastly we know that an example of how people have access to parking in our neighborhoods will be more important when there’s pressure from a growing community. There are issues as well from the standpoint there is no adequate street parking in our community.