March 30, 2022
City of Edmonton
1 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton AB, T5J 2R7
RE: April 4, 2022, City Council Item 6.9, Multi-Unit Strategy - Alternative Business Model
To Mayor and City Council:
The Infill Development in Edmonton Association (IDEA) is an educational and advocacy nonprofit, non-partisan association that represents over 180 city builders and city shapers. Our purpose is to drive change toward people-centred communities within Edmonton’s mature neighbourhoods. The vast majority of our members are small and local businesses, passionate about executing Council’s City Plan goals.
We are excited to see proposed options for achieving our 25-year goals with a 90 percent waste diversion target across all sectors. IDEA’s values center around building a sustainable City and we believe that waste management plays a large role in achieving those goals.
Background
In 2019 City Council decided to move away from collecting any commercial waste in the City of Edmonton. At that time IDEA was not involved in the conversation around the effects of that change on mixed-use and small multi-unit sites. The City currently collects all residential waste and no commercial waste.
Context and Concerns
Mixed-use buildings contain both residential and commercial uses. Because of the City’s waste pick-up standards, such buildings require two separate waste pick-up operations: bins/carts and pick-up schedule for the residential use (which the City picks up) and separate bins and pick-up schedule for the commercial use (which a private contractor picks up). This creates both an operational challenge—to coordinate separate pick-up schedules—as well as a site planning challenge, with additional land that must be set aside for waste storage, rather than being used for housing or amenities. This is an unnecessary barrier for those who are looking to build in on small lots in nodes and corridors in alignment with City Plan.
Some of Edmonton’s small and medium-sized multi-unit sites do not have lane access, creating operational challenges for pick up, in that turning maneuvers for the City’s fleet of large-sized waste vehicles must occur on site. This is almost always impossible to achieve on a small site. This issue is related to Developer Standards.
Potential Solutions
1) Remove barriers to mixed-use developments through a review of the 2019 ICI policy
What is needed on small sites is flexibility in waste storage and pick-up, as such sites are already difficult to design and build (hence the missing middle). Please review the 2019 ICI (Industrial, Commercial and Institutional) policy to review whether separate residential and commercial waste storage and collection are really necessary for small and medium-sized mixed-use sites. We believe it poses an unnecessary barrier to mixed-use development.
2) Prioritize the update of the Developer Standards
Concerns around site planning, waste storage, and waste pick up may be able to be mitigated through an update to the Developer Standards to align its priorities with City Plan.
City Plan Alignment
4.2 Edmontonians live closer to what they need and are supported by walkable communities, active transportation networks and greater connectivity across all travel modes.
4.2.1.3 Adapt City operations, equipment and infrastructure to contribute to intensification.
IDEA would like to see Edmonton move to a three-stream communal collection system with a priority set on facilitating mixed-use and small-scale infill sites as outlined in Edmonton’s City Plan. We believe this three-stream system will help us better take care of our environment and we thank Administration and Council for their commitment to our future. We believe this objective can and must be achieved in tandem with facilitating mixed-use and multi-unit development on small and medium sized infill sites. Please prioritize the review of the ICI policy and the Developer Standards.
Thank you for your time. We request a meeting with you prior to April 4, 2022 to discuss the issues surrounding infill and waste collection. If you have any questions please contact IDEA via Mariah Samji at mariah@infilledmonton.com or 780-951-6926.
Sincerely,
