Development at Blatchford remains behind schedule. Councillors are worried it's too pricey to live there

Edmonton city councillors are pushing for more affordable housing in the Blatchford neighbourhood while keeping lofty environmental goals set out in the original business plan from 2014.

Council's executive committee on Wednesday asked city managers to review the business case and explore ways to make building and buying in Blatchford more economical.

Coun. Andrew Knack noted that when Blatchford was created, the idea was that the city would make money on land sales. 

"By doing that, are we pricing people out of the market right now?" Knack said Wednesday's meeting.

"And if sales don't materialize as quickly as we want, we potentially don't see that return that we first thought." 

Knack said he was also concerned to hear the average cost of a townhouse on the former City Centre Airport lands is $650,000 — about $200,000 more than the average single-family home elsewhere in Edmonton.

"Is this going to be an urbanist Glenora — essentially a spot that no regular person can afford to live in because we haven't expanded those options?" Knack asked during the meeting. 

City managers have been tasked with finding ways to make building and buying in Blatchford more economical.

A progress report on Blatchford, presented at the meeting, shows there are only 45 occupied homes on the site. The neighbourhood's original plan called for building 500 residential units per year starting in 2018. 

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Knack's message was echoed by Adil Kodian, with the Edmonton branch of the Canadian Home Builders' Association (CHBA).

"We do not believe there is a financially viable path forward without some adjustments to Blatchford's model," he told councillors Wednesday.

He said the CHBA would suggest a more gradual energy transition instead of a leap to 100 per cent renewable energy as outlined in the Blatchford business plan. 

"Blatchford has a long list of fairly laudable goals but none of those goals are being achieved without houses being built and people actually living there," Kodian said.  

From airport to homes

Tom Lumsden, manager of the city's Blatchford redevelopment office, said it's estimated to take 20 to 25 years to build out the some 280 acres, still a reasonable timeline considering what the site was 10 years ago. 

The townhouses already built are larger than coming multi-housing units, which will be less expensive at around $465,000. Apartment-style housing is also in the works, he said. 

City managers will report back to the committee with results of the review next June. 

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Councillors disagree on environmental goals

Knack and Coun. Tim Cartmell had wanted the business case review to include looking at the environmental goals but Coun. Anne Stevenson said it was important to maintain the criteria set in the original plan. 

"We're in a climate emergency and these are the imperatives of what we need to be doing in our city building," Stevenson said. "The long-term operating benefits well outweigh the upfront cost." 

The rest of the committee sided with Stevenson and removed the environmental goals from the review. 

Cartmell said market affordability can't be determined without looking at the environmental and architectural aspects. 

"It's an empty exercise, as far as I'm concerned, if we're not going to consider that environmental piece," he said 

He said the Blatchford goals are laudable but the city should still analyze what they cost. 

"I think the people we represent deserve to know what the premium is for those goals," he said. 

The city's long-term vision is for the site to be carbon neutral with 100 per cent renewable energy from the district energy system. 

Buildings at Blatchford are designed to be up to 37 per cent more efficient than minimums as established in current national codes, the report says.