‘A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY’
Miles Berry and Angela Mao are members of the Greater Hardisty Community Sustainability Coalition which wants to see the city invest in improving the walkability of 101 Avenue to support local businesses and encourage more residential density.
Planters, benches, a shared-use path — community members in Greater Hardisty are rallying for at least temporary improvements to 101 Avenue after city officials said their area is not a priority for street reconstruction.
In a report expected to be released publicly Thursday, city officials say Edmonton should be strategic in its investment, concentrating on traditional main streets, key bus corridors and locations where street improvements can make the most difference.
But a group of Greater Hardisty residents are hyper engaged in the planning issue, convinced by a previous school closure fight that the community needs a greater density of homes to remain vibrant. They worked with city planners on concept designs — Terrace Road to 79 Street — with a draft street plan published in 2017.
“Where do you think you get the density? Many think having it on the avenue is the place,” said Miles Berry, a member of the Greater Hardisty Community Sustainability Coalition.
The street is currently a series of vacant land and auto-oriented strip malls with an interrupted, narrow sidewalk.
The group believes a pleasant streetscape with a welcoming sidewalk and walking connections into the neighbourhood will support local businesses. That in turn would make it attractive for developers to rebuild with medium density, Berry said.
“What we’re trying to do is create the main street community hub ... it’s a blank slate, a perfect opportunity to apply all these visions.”
LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN
The team met to strategize Wednesday evening, hoping a letterwriting campaign and community presentations at council’s urban planning committee meeting next Tuesday will convince city council this area is worth a second look.
City officials say street resurfacing could postpone major reconstruction for 15 to 20 years, according to report shared with residents early. Officials recommend a planning pause, with perhaps an action plan to make smaller improvements.
Pop-up improvements — like new benches and planters for a week or weekend — could test changes.
Even a shared-use path along the street is “something we could look into,” said city planning director Kalen Anderson. “We’d have to talk with our traffic operations folks about using space differently — if it doesn’t go well, the beauty of temporary is that you take it out.”
COPYING NEW YORK
When New York transportation guru Janette Sadik-Khan visited Edmonton earlier this year, she said their efforts were successful because planners picked work locations in response to community demand with built-in community cheerleaders and caretakers.
She also said success came from affordable solutions that could be implemented quickly, adjusted until they worked and left in place until the money for permanent street reconstruction was in the budget. That’s what happened in Times Square. It’s similar to Edmonton’s downtown bike lanes.
101 Avenue project manager Kristin Smith said Greater Hardisty definitely qualifies under the first point. “Their level of engagement blew us away.”
They packed open houses with 200 people, even arranged free pizza. The debate was consistently respectful, even when residents disagreed, Smith said. That means “testing something in that area would get really good feedback.”
The planning team hasn’t considered a New York-style improvement but it could be possible.
“My gut says we should be open, experimental and collaborative. But we should also be following the community’s lead,” said Anderson. “Respecting them is to let them continue to lead and we can gently follow from behind.”