Designers have turned an old military base in Edmonton into a walkable community, says a smart-growth advocate, but the area has struggled to attract stores.
About 12 people came to the St. Albert Senior Citizens' Club Wednesday night to hear about the Village at Griesbach in Edmonton. The talk was part of a series of free lectures held by the City of St. Albert on smart growth.
The Canada Lands Company proposed to turn an old military base in Edmonton into a sustainable, pedestrian friendly community around 2002, said Marvin Neumann, director of development with the company. After many workshops and info sessions, they're now building a mixed-use community on the 250-hectare site next to 137th Avenue, 97th Street, and Castledowns Road.
The neighbourhood is selling well, he said, but they've had trouble convincing businesses to set up shop in the community. "We've struggled on our village centre, I have to be honest," he said, referring to the community's commercial/residential zone. "To do something different in Edmonton is a challenge."
Military history
Many of the neighbourhood's features make reference to military history, Neumann said. Streets are named after famous battles or soldiers, with small plaques along the sidewalks explaining their significance. Large monuments dot the region's parks, as do four large stormwater ponds — one of which is named after the Princess Patricia's regiment. These features help residents take more pride in their community, he said, and give drivers an excuse not to speed through neighbourhoods.
"We want to encourage not only automobile [use] but transit, bicycle and pedestrians," Neumann said. Builders have been encouraged to shunt garages to back lanes and to shade sidewalks with trees. Streets are arrayed in a grid-like pattern for easy navigation, and equipped with traffic calming measures such as raised crosswalks and traffic circles.
"If [you] want to park a big RV and have all the toys, Griesbach is not the neighbourhood for [you]," Neumann said. It's already drawn much interest from people who enjoy walkable communities, though. "We see more people out on the sidewalk … they're really engaged in the community."
Much of the development has been built to LEED gold levels, Neumann said, referring to an internationally recognized standard for green construction. "We're recycling all the concrete within the site," he said as an example. The company has spent about $1.7 million cleaning up contaminants left behind by the military.
Store troubles
St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse said he wasn't a fan of the neighbourhood's back alleys, and noted how it did not seem to be able to attract commercial development. "It's not large enough to support retail when retail's just outside [the community]," he said. "Why would I drive into a community to get retail when I can get everything else on 137th [Avenue] and 97th Street?"
The community is supposed to have small shops to serve people in its southeast village centre, Neumann said, but it's been tough to draw them in. "We don't have that critical mass [of people] yet," he admitted, and there are already a lot of stores in the region. They've seen a spike in interest from business over the last six months, though, and he expected interest to increase as the community built out.
Smart growth works in Griesbach because of its location, Neumann said: it's infill, close to downtown, and near existing services. "You have to put smart growth in the right location," he said. "If you're going to put it out near a farmer's field, you're going to have some challenges."
Denser development such as this is the future of Edmonton, Neumann argued. "We can't keep building out into perfectly good farmland forever."
See villageatgriesbach.com for more on the neighbourhood.
