RIVER VALLEY TOP NEEDS MORE ROOM WITH A VIEW
City back on right path after loopholes created private vistas for the wealthy
Has Edmonton failed the Todd test?
The formative vision for development atop Edmonton’s river valley was set out by Montreal landscape architect Frederick Todd (1876-1948). Todd recommended top of the valley and ravines be kept as public spaces, with a continuous boulevard running along the top of the bank.
“No one thing is more important for large cities or cities assured of a great future than that they shall secure open spaces for future generations,” Todd wrote in 1907.
“Few cities have such splendid opportunities for magnificent scenic drives as Edmonton and it will always be a matter of regret to future generations that land for a boulevard along the entire river embankment was not secured until it was too late to make it continuous.”
By 1915, both the city and provincial governments adopted Todd’s vision as policy. After after sticking with the plan for decades, we screwed up royally before the turn of century, allowing all kinds of private development along the valley top which often undermined or blocked public views and access.
From the 1920s to 1980s, our city planners generally made sure there were public boulevards built on top of the valley, with private homes only on the other side, This preserved excellent public views and access. But Stefan Fekner, a now retired senior city planner, says the Urban Development Institute, a lobby group for developers, has had great clout both with city administration and council.
The developers realized if they could build homes right up against the bank, it would save them money. With homes along the bank, then a public road, and then a second row of homes, there would be two groups of new homeowners to pay for the road, not just one, Fekner says.
Some developers also felt they could make more money selling more exclusive, secluded properties right on the bank.
The developers were resourceful in finding loopholes in the vague, old rules and definitions about top of bank development, Fekner says, so much so that in our new southwest neighbourhoods, block after block of homes were built up against ravines and the valley, with no road for the public to drive on and enjoy the view, and sometimes not even a walking trail.
In this way, the glory of the valley and the ravine was at times set aside for the wealthy, who can afford such properties.
There were other major issues as well with homes built at the top of the bank. They would sometimes encroach on protected valley and ravine lands, treating them like an extended backyard. More alarming, due to the eroding, slumping form of the bank, some homes started to crumble into ravines, bringing lawsuits from homeowners who blamed the city for allowing the homes to be built.
“We made some mistakes that have had negative consequences both to the public and, ironically, to the individual land owners ...,” Coun. Ben Henderson says. “Allowing people to not put that buffer in has left them exposed.”
And the downside for the public?
“It made those views and those vistas private spaces, when I think the intention was, and our intention now is, they are a public asset and everybody should be able to enjoy them and have good access.”
In the late 2000s, Coun. Linda Sloan led a push to tighten the bylaw. The new rules are much clearer and stipulate there needs to be a 10-metre public buffer and a public walking path between any private property and the protected lands of the valley.
Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club sided with the development industry in favour of paths instead of roads overlooking the valley. People enjoy paths along the valley and ravines without noisy cars whizzing by, says Charlie Richmond co-ordinator of the Edmonton affiliate of the Sierra Club. Roads also have gutters that carry away rain water so that it no longer feeds the vegetation in the valley.
Would Fredrick Todd approve of our new policy?
“In terms of guaranteeing the public 100-per-cent access, I think we are now ensuring that ...,” Henderson says. “The space on the top of the bank is clearly our space.”
“To some extent, we’re in a better position at the top of bank,” says Fekner, who would still prefer more public roads along the top.
We don’t have a perfect plan now, but we’re doing better.