Edmonton city council adopts Rossdale rezoning motion amid community concerns
Posted July 7, 2026 11:08 am.
Last Updated July 7, 2026 1:05 pm.
The Edmonton city council voted to pass a proposal to increase building heights in special zones in Rossdale Monday.
At a public hearing Monday, the motion was adopted with 11 councillors voting in favour to pass the motion, one councillor voting against while another was absent.
The city council’s vote came despite concerns raised by residents and Indigenous groups that building condos on former burial site would be sign of disrespect.
The rezoning proposal could bring three high-rise residential towers along the north Saskatchewan river valley, with some commercial and community facilities on the ground level.
But residents raised concerns about the plans to redevelop the land near Remax field on what is believed to as a historic Indigenous burial site
Among them are James Delorme and his brother Julian who were at Monday’s public hearing to voiced their opposition.
“We speak for people that can no longer speak,” Delorme said. “We’re speaking for our future. We’re speaking on behalf of our families.”
“It’s just a simple question of do you want your family bones to have buildings built on top of them and then to be forgotten about?”
Dwayne Good Striker, the environmental affairs ambassador for Sovereign Blackfoot Nation said, “I was forced off that area when the Walterdale Bridge was being built. It’s important for them to be reminded that we are here as treaty persons and that we have rights that must be respected.”
City officials said that they had done extensive consultation with 32 Indigenous stakeholders as part of the city’s effort to redevelop residential lots in the Rossdale flats and other river valley neighbourhoods.
“The intention to develop on these lands has been there for many years,” said Anne Stevenson, councillor, Ward O-day’min. “This is just an amendment to those allowances to make it more suitable for some of what we’re hearing desired in the area.”
Calvin Bruneau, Chief of Papaschase First Nation defended the city’s proposal saying they were consulted last October and a few times this year.
“People are saying they didn’t consult with First Nations. Well, as far as we’re concerned they consulted with us,’ Bruneau said. “They’re not building in and around the burial site. It’s away from there. It’s just that they need to proceed with caution.”
