‘Silly’ gondola proposal grounded after condo-tower dwellers object

Edmonton’s proposal to build a gondola or funicular into the river valley from downtown has been grounded.

The plan, which would have carried people from Jasper Avenue and 104th Street to Rossdale, is premature when the fate of the Rossdale power plant and surrounding development is up in the air, Coun. Kim Krushell said Monday.

“The funicular was based on Expo (2017). We didn’t get Expo. Unless you get a huge redevelopment in the Rossdale Flats, how is the funicular going to work?” Krushell asked.

“The problem is Rossdale (power plant) is in limbo right now. … Really, this should have been killed a little while ago.”

Staff had recommended paying two companies that proposed putting in a gondola or funicular up to $150,000 each to come up with a business case for the scheme, intended to carry at least 400 passengers an hour.

They would also have operated it at a cost one firm estimated at $1.5 million to $3 million annually.

But residents in the condo towers along the proposed track near 99th Avenue and 104th Street argued the $22-million project, funded mainly with money from other levels of government, would ruin their historic district.

“(The) 104th Street is the most beautiful street downtown, with a canopy of mature trees and decorative lights. Why would the city even consider destroying it?” asked Joan McCollum, president of the Hillside condominiums board.

“We can’t understand how city council can even consider this route.”

City officials will now discuss what other projects should be built in the area with about $11 million in federal funding that had been earmarked for the funicular.

Krushell said it would make sense to reconsider bringing visitors into the river valley at Louise McKinney Park beside the Shaw Conference Centre, although officials explained this idea was studied and rejected several years ago.

“Do I think something needs to be done in the future in terms of getting people from the legislature to the river valley? Yes, but we have a lot of plans on the go, some with a higher priority than this.”

Mayor Stephen Mandel agreed mechanized transportation is needed someday to improve usage of the river valley, saying “people don’t like walking from the bottom to the top … I don’t even like walking from the top to the bottom.”

However, nothing will happen for at least four or five years, he said.

“It’s not the right time. I also didn’t like the idea of the gondola.

“I thought it was silly … (but) I’m not sure the funicular they came up with for $25 million was worth it.”