Responsible Zoning

Zoning is one of City Council’s fundamental responsibilities. However, with the adoption of Bylaw 20001, it appears that Council has prioritized administrative convenience and maximizing returns for developers over the principles of sound, community-focused zoning policy.

This election represents a pivotal moment—one in which we are quite literally deciding the future shape and character of our city for decades to come.

If Bylaw 20001 remains unchanged, we must ask ourselves: What kind of city will we be living in four years from now, when we next return to the polls?

It is imperative that we repeal Bylaw 20001 and replace it with responsible, balanced zoning that reflects the needs and values of our community. The revised policy must thoughtfully consider the key points outlined below.

District Overlay

Currently, Bylaw 20001 functions as a blanket zoning bylaw—a one-size-fits-all approach applied uniformly across the entire city.

This fails to account for the distinct characteristics of individual neighborhoods, including variations in infrastructure capacity, parking availability, traffic patterns, tree canopy, geographic features, and overall community character.

To address this shortcoming, a district overlay system is necessary. A district overlay introduces a tailored set of development regulations specific to a defined geographic area, layered on top of the existing base zoning.

This approach enables more nuanced, context-sensitive urban planning that reflects the unique needs and identities of each neighborhood.

We cannot continue to allow the shape of our city to be dictated primarily by developers.

Yet, under the current framework, that is effectively what is happening. Strong, well-crafted policy must guide development—not the other way around.

Community Collaboration

Currently Bylaw 20001 does not take into account the need for community consultation. This is arguably the worst aspect of the bylaw since it leaves out the opinions of the very people who live in these neighborhoods.

We need to bring back community consultation when approving larger units in residential areas. We can do this through greater cooperation with community leagues and information sessions where feedback is actually collected.

We also need to make it easier on our city website for residents to know what is happening in their neighborhood. Saying "well it was on the website" is a poor answer when navigating the city of Edmonton website is not user friendly and at times feels like it is intentional hiding information.

Responsible Infill

The word infill has almost become a curse word in Edmonton with the introduction of by law 20001. That said everyone I have spoken to knows we need to build and infill is a huge part of that. We just need it done responsibly.

What that means is using the new district overlays to control the design of these infills in our communities. Some neighborhoods a 4 plex may be the largest we should allow and others an 8 plex might be completely within reason. these decisions can only be made with a district overlay and then community collaboration needs to occur before making the decision.

we also need to take into account very real concerns such as parking, traffic, and infrastructure of the neighborhoods affected.

Zoning Updates

One often-overlooked aspect of zoning is the need for periodic updates. Unfortunately, this responsibility has too often been deferred, left for future councils to address.

A responsible and responsive zoning plan should be reviewed and updated approximately every time the population grows by 250,000 residents.

As one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, Edmonton cannot rely on arbitrary timelines for zoning reviews. Instead, we must take a proactive approach—adapting our policies to reflect the evolving needs of our residents and the dynamic growth of our city.