Turbulence continues for Edmonton's Blatchford development on former airport site
Wallis Snowdon | CBC News | Posted: December 1, 2023 1:00 PM | Last Updated: December 2, 2023
Despite ambitious targets, fewer than 100 homes have been completed
Ten years after the final plane took off from the runway of Edmonton's municipal airport, it remains unclear if the neighbourhood taking shape on the site continues will ever reach the heights promised.
The Blatchford development remains a stunted version of an original blueprint.
Many of its environmentally-innovative features once promised have been scrapped and the project remains plagued by concerns about the pace of construction and the prices of the homes being built.
City administration is examining ways to speed development and improve affordability, including cutting land prices, reducing lot sizes and offering developers the chance to buy multiple parcels.
The original plan for Blatchford called for the construction of 500 residential units annually starting in 2018. But fewer than 100 homes are now complete.
Ready for takeoff?
Anne Stevenson, councillor for Ward O-day'min, said it should be no surprise that construction has fallen behind target. Timelines for the carbon-neutral community were overly ambitious from the start, she said.
"It was a seven-year timeline from the last plane landing to residents moving in," Stevenson said in an interview.
"If we are measuring ourselves against that business plan, we are always going to be falling short."
Stevenson said she has faith that an increasing number of multi-family units and a broader variety of housing will soon take shape.
"A very apt analogy for Blatchford is that a plane has to gather up speed down the runway before it starts to take off," she said.
"We are just at that inflection point and I see it continuing to rise to great heights."
It has, however, been a bumpy ride.
When city council approved Blatchford in 2009, it was hailed as a blueprint for the future of sustainable development. The name was a nod to former Edmonton mayor Kenneth Blatchford, who helped establish the airport in 1927.
At a groundbreaking ceremony in 2015, then-mayor Don Iveson described it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He said it would earn Edmonton a reputation as a leader in the construction of green communities.
The vision was bold. And the centrally located City Centre Airport lands would serve as a blank slate. The project promised to transform the airport's 217 hectares into a walkable, densely-populated home for 30,000 people.
The community would be fuelled by renewable energy. There were plans for condos, parks and ponds and the promise of direct LRT access. A pneumatic garbage chute system would handle the trash, delivering it to an on-site, energy-producing, biomass-burning plant.
The airport was officially decommissioned on Nov. 30, 2013. The city signed off on the business case for Blatchford the following year.
The city estimated, in 2008, that land sales would put $500 million into city coffers. But as projections for revenues dried up, many of the Blatchford plan's most ambitious features were scrapped.
There would be no advanced garbage disposal technology. Designs for processing sanitary waste on site were shelved. Plans for a biomass plant were cancelled in favour of a less costly combined heat and electricity system, a utility the city is now struggling to pay for.
The promise of direct transit access has also fallen short. City council recently voted to stall the opening of a Metro Line LRT extension into the neighbourhood, deferring the opening of Blatchford Gate Station until there enough people in the area to justify the cost.
Ward pihêsiwin Coun. Tim Cartmell, long critical of Blatchford, remains concerned the city has spent too much to subsidize the construction of a small number of expensive single-family homes.
He said he is now hopeful administration will ease some of the restrictions on development in an effort to improve affordability.
"Things would happen more quickly if we loosened up some of the rules," Cartmell said.
"We'll see if administration actually makes some changes that leads to an increased pace. I'm hopeful but I'm not convinced."
A question of quality
Three years after the first residents moved in, the project continues to tout itself as a forward-thinking eco-friendly community.
Kevin Read, president of Encore Master Builder, remains sold on that pitch. His company started building in Blatchford in 2018, but he never thought the timelines were unrealistic.
Read said until builders begin to construct taller buildings, construction targets won't be met. But developers have increasing confidence in the project, he said.
"It is working," he said. "Builders that will construct what's needed to get the production up, they're coming in now."
Read's company has finished 44 units with another 36 lots in the works, ranging in price from $600,000 to $900,000.
He expects average Blatchford home prices to come down as the scale of construction goes up and more condos and towers get built.
However, complaints about the price of housing don't account for the quality of construction, he said. Homes in Blatchford are being built to a higher, energy-efficient standard, he said.
"Affordability does not go hand-in-hand with leading-edge green technology," he said.
An independent consulting study prepared for the city was presented to city council in September. It described home pricing as reasonable, ranging from $555,243 to $681,208 per unit, or $373 to $430 per square foot.
The report said the pace of development in Blatchford has been "slow but reasonable."
It found that 97 townhouses on single unit lots had been completed. Most are two-storey, with the average sizes ranging from 1,489 to 1,639 square feet.
The same report said a total of 160 "rooftops" had taken shape – homes that had either been built or were under active construction. There had been no sales of lots intended for apartment buildings.
The report noted that because Blatchford is a development area guided by public policy, it is not surprising that progress has not proceeded at the same pace as developments that are strictly market-driven.
"Ultimately," the report said, "when considering the imposed guidelines and unique aspects of Blatchford, the pace of development and pricing is considered to be reasonable with market acceptance improving."
It said that a lack of amenities, a soft condo market and uncertainty about the district's energy sharing system has likely stymied the pace of construction.
Administration is now considering the report's key recommendations, which included zoning changes to increase the diversity of housing, and a "softening" of architectural standards so that builders could pass on cost savings to buyers.
In a statement, Lauren Bridges, a senior marketing strategist with the city's Blatchford Redevelopment Office, said seven builders are actively constructing homes. Another two have bought land but haven't broken ground.
As of this week, 145 units are either currently under construction or completed, Bridges said. An additional 112 units are planned, but not yet under construction. There are approximately 732 units on land parcels that are either pending sale to builders or that have been set aside for affordable housing, she said.
The land is sold to builders by the city but it's up to builders to set the pace, she noted.
'A long play'
Britt Ayotte moved into a row house in Blatchford last year, attracted by the central location and net-zero construction. Ayotte said a strong sense of community has made it feel like home.
"This neighbourhood is probably the loveliest I have ever lived in," Ayotte said. "There's something about living here that that feels kind of like you're in a really pretty small town."
Ayotte wants to see the area thrive but worries that Edmontonians have lost patience with the project.
To succeed, continued investment is needed to ensure residents have access to critical city amenities, including transit, Ayotte said.
"I understand the perspective that a lot of Edmontonians have, that they may not appreciate Blatchford as a place where they want to spend their tax money.
"Like any investment, you can't expect immediate and massive returns. We have to look at this as a long play."