City faces $18M annual bill for repairing back alleys
Council must decide who has to pay to fix rundown neighbourhood lanes
A new city report gives nearly 40 per cent of Edmonton’s back lanes — peppered with potholes and drainage problems — an F for quality.
Council needs to decide who will pay the $18 million-a-year bill to fix them.
If all taxpayers contribute, it means an additional 1.17 per cent on the property tax bill — roughly $25 a year for a typical homeowner. But not everyone has a back alley. Some councillors think people with back alleys should foot more of the bill.
“We justify user pay for so many things. This is another form,” said Coun. Bryan Anderson, whose southwest ward has mostly homes with front-facing garages. “I honestly think you or I would have difficulty explaining to a citizen how their property taxes are going to go up to pave someone else’s back alley.”
The issue goes to transportation committee Wednesday.
Back alleys have been left out of neighbourhood renewal plans. The current policy is for residents to pay to get an alley upgraded from gravel to paved, but the city covers ongoing maintenance. That’s fallen behind, since crews only respond to complaints after potholes on the streets are dealt with each year.
In the south-central Ward 10, two-thirds of the alleys get an F. Coun. Michael Walters said alleys can’t be seen as simply private amenities. “These are important access ways, similar to the streets for areas with front garages,” he said. “Why not have the homeowner pay for the street in front of their house? It’s an access point.”
He might consider cost sharing, with local residents paying some of the bill for their own alleys, he said. “I want to explore options that moves this forward as fast as we can. We should have started this 10 years ago.”
Administration suggests starting back alley reconstruction in 2019, with the goal of getting 85 per cent of alleys ranked C to A within 30 years. City crews could repair 28 kilometres per year.