Proposed new ward boundaries head to council
Recommended shift southward reflects recent trends in population growth
Edmonton’s 12 wards are expected to look a lot different by next October’s municipal election as part of a planned boundary overhaul to curb disparity in population size.
The new proposed wards, made public Thursday, would be more vertical and provide additional representation on the fast-growing south side with one ward spanning across the river. Currently, seven of the municipal wards are north of the river with five on the south.
Under the shuffle recommended by a seven-member commission made up of city residents, if all current city councillors run and are re-elected in 2021, many neighbourhoods will end up with a new representative. Also, the current naming of wards by numbers may be swapped for letters in order to avoid confusion.
“We felt it was important to draw a map that both stayed true to the principle of one person, one vote and preserve representation of communities of interest,” said commission chairman Jared Wesley in an interview with Postmedia Friday.
Keeping neighbourhoods with similar interests together and not dividing community leagues between wards are two of the main principles the commission tried to follow, but wasn’t always possible, Wesley said.
The neighbourhoods of West Jasper Place and Sherwood in the west end for example are split between Wards A and G respectively under the new model, but are both represented by the West Jasper Sherwood Community League. Right now, both communities fall under Ward 1.
Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues executive director Laura Cunningham-shpeley told Postmedia this is a concern for impacted community leagues because now they will need to coordinate with more than one councillor to voice concerns and ideas.
“It will be a challenge for those leagues to connect with one city councillor, the relationship we’ve seen that’s most productive,” she said. “Leagues hear quite quickly about concerns in neighbourhoods of speeding down streets, break and enters and crime rates increasing and they connect with the city councillor to navigate.”
The federation was consulted by the ward redesign team and advocated for community leagues to not be split for this reason. Due to time restraint, residents were unable to provide feedback on the final recommendation and the two initial concepts presented during public engagement sessions were largely different than the final map. The goal is for these new boundaries to be in place for three municipal elections through 2029.
“We strongly recommend future commissions have more time so we can go back to the public with the recommended map in order to solicit feedback on the final representation,” Wesley said, noting residents will get to have a say when the amended bylaw faces a public hearing in June.
The largest boundary changes will be seen south of the North Saskatchewan River, containing neighbourhoods expected to see the largest population growth by 2030. The four southernmost wards of I, J, K and L are shaped like narrow “swim lanes” rather than boxes to better distribute recently annexed land and areas slated for development.
One ward, Ward F, on the east end is slated to cross the river spanning from Yellowhead Trail in the north to Argyll Road in the south.
City council is expected to debate and vote on the ward overhaul May 25.
It will be a challenge for those leagues to connect with one city councillor, the relationship we’ve seen that’s most productive.