This city has a decision to make on back alleys and it is only fair to developers that they make it sooner rather than later. That’s because, if council decides to uphold its current stand against the back lanes that run behind homes, then builders will have fair warning to take some of their business elsewhere, even if just across the border into Edmonton’s fast growing suburbs.
This week, Mayor Nolan Crouse introduced a motion at Tuesday’s council meeting to reaffirm the city’s long-standing stance against alleys by removing all references to them in the city’s Housing Diversity Action Plan. The mayor, it seems, has a thing against alleys, because it is apparent he believes they incur great costs and encourage criminal behaviour. At least that is what one can infer from his request for city staff to further investigate those questions before the topic is discussed further. So for now, it seems, St. Albert will have to live with its current seven kilometres of St. Albert alleys that predate the current wisdom and – presumably – all future neighbourhoods will only include rows of single-detached and townhomes with garage doors facing the street.
That’s OK, and looking around anyone can see that it is the kind of street where plenty of people want to spend their lives, but according to developers at the meeting it also limits the diversity of housing – and particularly affordable housing – it can provide. Consultants working with the city to review its land-use bylaw have also suggested alleys be included in future in an effort to diversify housing choices in the community. The idea is to provide housing that young people and seniors can afford, by allowing narrower lots, and perhaps looking to the future laneway homes that appear to be working out quite well in places like Edmonton and Vancouver. Encouraging all types of housing growth could also help boost the city’s eroding residential tax base by allowing more people to live here.
Certainly developers support the idea of diversity. Susan Monson, of Melcor, also represents the Edmonton branch of the Urban Development Institute. She told council: “We want to reiterate that lane homes are just one option that we’d like to be considered.” Paul Lannie, of the Averton group said: “I think there is room for high quality development, including rear lanes.” And perhaps Jason Fjeldheim said it best when he suggested that Crouse’s motion could be counterproductive to development: “If the council would like St. Albert to stay the same, and continue to be a bedroom community of Edmonton with high taxes and median new house price of $698,000, then please tell us, it will save us all a lot of time and energy.”
Indeed. But we’d like to add that as this council continually claims to embrace the future with initiatives such as its smart city plans, it must collectively wake up to the fact that there is much more to consider than bandwidth and interconnectivity. Perhaps it must also make fundamental changes in the way it sees itself to be welcoming to a far broader range of people, including those who may want to spend their working lives here. All of Edmonton’s other suburban neighbours have already done so.
