With a 22-storey tower near a row of bungalows, critics worry Edmonton’s new Holyrood Gardens proposal is bending city rules already and could radically shift expectations around neighbourhood-level LRT stations.
“This is putting towers next to single-family houses (and) that’s a neighbourhood stop,” said Ward 8 Coun. Ben Henderson, worried land prices around other stops will skyrocket if council doesn’t follow the limits in its own guidelines.
But supporters say this site is unique. Edmonton needs to increase density to justify the billions of dollars it’s investing in LRT, and this is a rare four-hectare site that could see 1,200 new units right beside a station.
It’s just two stops from downtown, said developer Raj Dhunna. “You don’t run into a (four-hectare) site too often.”
Regency Developments owns the development site along 85 Street between 90 and 95 avenues, next to the Holyrood station on the Valley Line LRT.
This proposal would replace aging townhouses with a series of four-storey apartments, two towers up to 16 storeys at the corner of 85 Street and 93 Avenue, and one 22-storey tower next to the traffic circle.
The site concentrates development to give more open space, said Stantec’s Nancy MacDonald, who is helping with the rezoning application.
Half the property would be open space — a series of park spaces off the lane to be used for a publicly accessible playground, dog park, amphitheatre, adult exercise park or similar amenities, said Dhunna. The ground floor would be lined with shops along the main streets and townhouses along the green space. Parking would be underground.
But the 22-storey tower — and its six-storey base stretching back to the lane — is just metres from the property line of an existing row of bungalows.
City planners said their biggest issue with Regency’s proposal is how close the tower is to the existing homes. They’re trying to negotiate a change before the plan heads to council for a vote in September.
The guidelines for development near LRT stations do not specify maximum density, but call for planners to be able to draw a line at a 35-degree angle between the neighbour’s property line and the top of the new building.
That line would barely let Regency’s proposed tower hit 13 storeys, and the tower base would have to be cut as well. But it’s not an exact science, said city planner Michelle Ouellette. “You have to look at this within reason.”
Community residents are worried about the traffic these 1,200 units would generate, picturing a repeat of Belgravia’s 76 Avenue exit, where residents grow frustrated waiting for the long signal light to cross the Capital Line LRT tracks.
Holyrood currently has about 1,500 households.
Residents worry traffic from the new development will head east on local roads past a school through the neighbourhood, said Dave Sutherland, civics director for the Holyrood Community League. He called the process of trying to get more information on this frustrating. “We’re being treated like naysayers.”