Zoning Bylaw Renewal Engagement Update (May 2023)
Over the month of May, I started getting a lot of messages from people about the Zoning Bylaw Renewal. While that is exciting because it’s an important body of work that I’ve been discussing for many years, many of those reaching out now are just getting involved and feeling concerned that they don’t have enough time to review all of the information and provide feedback. This post will cover what the engagement will look like from now until the Public Hearing in mid-October and for those interested, it will include information about the engagement that has been completed over the last 5 years since the project started.
The information below comes from the City of Edmonton team leading the Zoning Bylaw Renewal Work:
“May 1 to 31, 2023: Final Refine-level Public Engagement
Edmontonians are invited to participate in our final round of formal ‘refine’-level public engagement before the bylaw advances to Public Hearing for a decision in October 2023. Edmontonians can go to Engaged Edmonton to share their thoughts on the draft Zoning Bylaw, overview of the New Zoning Bylaw and “Know Your Zone” Rezoning Map using the Guided Feedback or ‘Ideas’ tools until 11:59 p.m. on May 31, 2023.
Edmontonians do not need to read the entire Bylaw to understand how it will impact them. We have created a number of resources on the Engaged Edmonton site, including the Guided Feedback Tool and Overview, to help people navigate the proposed Bylaw and understand what it could mean to them.
In addition to Engaged Edmonton, Edmontonians were given the opportunity to sign up for one of two virtual sessions on May 18 and 24, 2023 to learn more about the draft bylaw and provide feedback. Edmontonians also have the opportunity to book a one-on-one virtual chat with a planner to ask questions.
All feedback received between May 1 and 31 will be reflected in a What We Heard Report which will be published on the City’s website. When the final draft of the new Zoning Bylaw is released, it will contain a rationale column summarizing the changes made in response to feedback.
June 1 - July 30, 2023: Advise-level Engagement
The formal ‘refine’-level public engagement and ability to comment directly on the draft Zoning Bylaw via the Guided Feedback Tool will close on May 31, 2023. However, Edmontonians will still be able to access and view these documents, including the comments, as well as continue to share generalized feedback on the draft bylaw on Engaged Edmonton for consideration.
From June 1 to July 30, 2023 Edmontonians can continue to provide their generalized feedback on the draft Zoning Bylaw in the following ways:
Share feedback using the Ideas tool on Engaged Edmonton
Submit their feedback through a supplementary feedback form which will be posted on Engaged Edmonton on June 1, 2023
Email the Zoning Bylaw Renewal team at zoningbylawrenewal@edmonton.ca
Further adjustments may be made to the Bylaw should new, previously unconsidered feedback be received during this time period.
June 20, 2023: Urban Planning Committee Report #6
Administration will present the refined draft Zoning Bylaw to the Urban Planning Committee on June 20, 2023. This is the final update report before the City Council Public Hearing on October 16, 2023. Edmontonians are invited to request to speak and share their opinions.
August 1 to October 15, 2023: Post-renewal work
While Engaged Edmonton will remain open until the Public Hearing on October 16, 2023, feedback received after July 30, 2023 will not be used to refine the final draft of the new Zoning Bylaw. In order to advance to the Public Hearing on October 16, 2023, Administration must complete the final draft of the Zoning Bylaw in August 2023. Accepting feedback up until July 30, 2023 will enable Administration to incorporate this feedback as required while still proceeding with the current timelines.”
While the type of engagement will shift between now and the Public Hearing, the public engagement never ends. For example, until July 30th, any feedback provided may still result in adjustments to the Bylaw. Even after July 30th, if there is additional feedback that hasn’t been captured or changes that haven’t been considered, that can be presented any time between August 1st and during the Public Hearing. Council can still make changes during the Public Hearing as we have done during other Public Hearings.
I will be encouraging people in the ward to share any additional feedback with me by emailing me, calling me, or setting up a time to connect in person. This is an important project and so the more feedback I get, the better the final decision will be. On top of this, I will continue to bring it up at community meetings/events, when I’m out door-knocking, in my monthly newsletter, and during my Community Conversations. I am also looking to try and create my own survey to capture the feedback you have been sharing with the City staff.
As noted at the start, while this project has been discussed for a number of years, I realize that some are just getting involved at this point which is why it’s important to still provide the time for people to review everything and provide feedback. The previous link is a summary with additional links to every phase of engagement that has taken place since 2018. This also includes how the City worked to engage Edmontonians (ex: including a mailout in every tax notice in 2022).
This work started with the creation of the City Plan because once we planned out how our city would grow to 2 million people, the plan was always to create a new Zoning Bylaw upon the completion of the City Plan. I started writing about the Zoning Bylaw Renewal over three years ago, included reference to it in my 2021 campaign platform, and would regularly try to discuss it when I was in the community, during my virtual and in-person Community Conversations, and through social media and newsletters, etc.. We extended the timeline of this project as we were originally hoping to have it completed in 2022 but considering the importance of this work, more time was needed to ensure people could be involved in the process.
I understand that for those just starting to get involved now, the amount of information can be seen as overwhelming. That can be seen as both a good thing and a bad thing. The reason it can be seen as a good thing is that this process has been thorough and there are many detailed reports that you can review to see what has been raised so far and use that to help inform your feedback. The reason it can be seen as a bad thing is that some may feel like it’s too late to impact change. I hope the information above helps put that feeling to rest but I know it still may be daunting for some.
The last point I’ll mention is that change in our communities always happens slowly. That’s because the type of housing people want differs from person to person. For longer than I’ve been on council, it’s been accepted that higher density would often be built along major roads. Even though that is the case, there isn’t an apartment building on every lot on every major road. Why? It’s because the market couldn’t support that.
Some people like me enjoy apartment style living but for others, they might prefer to have a larger home with a big yard. For others, they might want a smaller home on a smaller lot where they aren’t responsible for as much maintenance. We all want different housing choices and the purpose of a Zoning Bylaw isn’t to force a particular choice on people, it’s about ensuring that every person has a variety of choices in their community so they can age in their neighbourhood instead of being forced out of the community they call home.
I look forward to the ongoing public engagement on the Zoning Bylaw as well as continuing to get your feedback to help inform the final Zoning Bylaw.
