Edmontonians frustrated over infill take concerns directly to Premier Danielle Smith

Edmontonians frustrated by infill regulations are going over city council’s heads, voicing their concerns directly with the premier of Alberta.

Premier Danielle Smith shared pictures, on social media, from a meeting with Edmontonians at St Basil’s Church, saying she had conversations about responsible neighbourhood development.

“A strong conversation with Edmonton members tonight about the issues that matter in their communities,” Smith wrote in Wednesday’s post.

“Responsible development, neighbourhood character and making sure Edmontonians have a meaningful say in what happens where they live came up again and again. Lots of thoughtful questions, honest feedback and great ideas in the room.”

Smith was joined by Ministers Searle Turton and Dale Nally and MLAs Brandon Lunty and Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk.

Chad Brown and Jill Bladon, both residents of west Edmonton, spoke to the premier – along with other groups at the townhall — about infill housing in Alberta’s capital.

“When you build something like this, 13 units on a corner block, that’s quite the change from a single-family home,” said Bladon.

“The city has said this sort of thing won’t happen again,” added Brown, a resident of Parkview. “But there’s still examples that are happening now that are tough to understand from a common-sense perspective.”

Brown said Premier Smith was “open to receiving information from all the different groups that were there.”

“She had some extremely good questions for us about what was happening,” he added.

Infill housing is a contentious topic in Edmonton since zoning regulations were created to allow the housing in 2023. Early this year, city council passed more regulations on the number of unit, height and look of infill housing in the city’s neighbourhoods.

But Brown says that hasn’t gone far enough, claiming Edmonton city leaders aren’t listening to them.

“I think one of the primary concerns is the congestion of multiple units in slow areas like on 88 Avenue — seven units in half a block don’t make any sense,” he said.

On her weekly call-in show, Premier Smith said her municipal affairs minister is looking into concerns over infill housing.

The premier also talked housing in front of municipal leaders from across the province on Wednesday.

“Of course on your end, by accelerating zoning approval, making more development land available and planning for more infrastructure and local services, and our combined efforts are working and we are seeing some amazing results so far,” she said.

Several groups across the city are planning a city-wide infill protest this Sunday — in Parkview, Millwoods, Holyrood, West Jasper Place and Pleasantview.

Bladon, who will be at the protest in Parkview, says she and others concerned over infill aren’t against housing density, but want it to fit the neighbourhood.

“How about you lot split it,” she suggested. “You turn it around and have two homes on there. You allow basement suites; you can allow garden suites. That’s six times the density. Instead, we have 13 going in there.”