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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

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5 comments

  1. Even with four surrounding community leagues opposed to the rezoning to an outdated, standard suburban commercial use (a direct control provision would have been ideal and still profitable for the developer), the majority of council chose to not represent the public in favour of an individual developer. It’s quite disheartening to see this happen.

  2. This whole debacle leaves me wincing at the thought of developers singling out weaknesses in local governance to leverage profit…nothing new, but cringe-worthy nonetheless.

  3. Kyle Witiw is right. This redevelopment is not really great at all. It’s okay at best. And it looks much like the rest of the development along 104 Ave. As a lover of architecture and a student of architecture, it disheartens me on how the Molson building is being presented. I find that the existing building is not the focus of the development and is not presented on display. Instead it is quite hidden to the rear of the site. I would rather see a pedestrian pathway/corridor from 104 Ave (future LRT) leading up to the Molson site with additional buildings that mimic and compliment the existing brick facade. It makes me wonder if city council is the right kind of legislating body to vote on issues regarding zoning and development. Is there a better way of doing this? If so, how?

  4. Edmonton will continue to get what developers deem to be good enough for its neighbourhoods until its council — elected to their positions of influence by citizens — finds the self-esteem to realize that this city is worth better and that the people can decide what’s good enough. Our downtown was developed with this same we’re-lucky-you’re-investing attitude and we’re left with a legacy of ho-hum to abhorrent concrete monstrosity like the bomb shelter mall, interspersed with buildings we can actually remember and point to, such as city hall, the art gallery, or places like Churchill Square.

    That Oliver and other communities came together and said this wasn’t good enough, and then offered the developer a vision of what would be, and why it would be better both for Oliver residents and ultimately for the developer and its future retail tenants was ignored. As an Oliver resident, I will vote with my feet now. I will not spend a dime at the new development.