I was invited by the mayor to attend a roundtable discussion regarding the Apollo Developments housing project for 70 Arlington Dr.
It appears that invitation was sent to me, “as someone who has been actively involved in the process, through sharing letters or emails with the city or speaking to council at the public hearing.” The discussion was facilitated by Populus Community Planning Inc., an Edmonton-based organization. Approximately 40 to 50 residents were in attendance, including a couple of representatives from Habitat for Humanity.
While I was initially impressed that my input was being sought by the city, I was disappointed not only with the preamble but with the “out of scope” boundaries that were set. The preamble was based on how you would redesign your current home to accommodate your mother/grandmother living with you. This exercise appeared to waste approximately an hour of the two hours set aside for the “roundtable” discussions. Most of the attendees indicated that they had sufficient space for “grandma” while some might have to relocate the office/computer room to the basement.
Then came the list of “out of scope” areas: topics that we were not permitted to comment on. Items such as traffic issues, possible increases in crime, road congestion, limited park space, business models or proposed housing mix. Lastly, we were not permitted to discuss whether the school board should be profiting from the sale of land after reneging on building a school on the proposed property. The one representative from Habitat stated that the total number of units proposed was necessary to keep the cost per unit affordable for the applicants.
The intent of the meeting was simply to provide the city with some design models of how we thought the units should be built. Where should the bathroom be? The living room? Should there be basements, one storey, two storey, garages, back yards, sheds?
The decision to move forward with the project has not been made yet but the city is spending tax dollars to have an Edmonton-based facilitator garner information from local residents who are not builders, planners or architects as to the “design” of the complex? And city council is actually going to take the recommendations seriously? Are you kidding me? What about the building codes and design experts? We are not the ones to live there. Why would we care where the bathroom is located??
It appears the city was simply trying to give the impression that the invitees actually had some tangible input into the design of the units despite the fact the decision to move forward with this project has not been made yet. This is like telling your son/daughter that you have still not decided if they can go to the grad dance, but why not go to The Bay and pick out an outfit they might want to wear just in case you decide they can go.
This meeting was a waste of time and money. And there is another meeting planned for Thursday. Is there any wonder why our property taxes are 50 per cent higher than Edmonton’s?
Norm Harley, St. Albert
