Western Cycle, United Way on the bulldozer list
Many homes and businesses to be demolished for proposed west LRT
Thirteen homes and more than 20 businesses are on Edmonton’s initial demolition list to accommodate the Valley Line LRT west, including well-known anchor tenants Western Cycle and the United Way.
That’s in addition to a dozen businesses and a three-storey apartment threatened by administration’s new plan for 149 Street. That goes to city council for debate March 21.
“I feel a little bitter about the whole thing,” said Wade Church, manager at National Audio Video on Stony Plain Road.
“Their plan is to go right through the middle of our store when there’s a derelict building right across the street,” Church said, pointing to the old Blue Chicago and the line of businesses beside it on the south side of Stony Plain Road at 142 Street.
National Audio Video is part of an entire block of businesses slated for demolition on the north side of Stony Plain Road just west of 142 Street. It’s been there for 40 years.
The worst is that business owners have been living under this cloud for years, said Tony Abdilmasih, owner of Glenora Chiropractic and Physiotherapy Clinic at 10210 142 St. He renovated and bought new signs last year hoping this wouldn’t happen.
Now it’s almost here. “We’re so completely left in the dark,” he said.
“I’ve been to all the town halls and still no answers.”
At city hall, all eyes will be on the provincial budget this spring with hopes for a funding announcement. If that comes, officials will be ready to go to tender on the west line this summer. It could be open by 2024.
CITY ALREADY BUYING LAND
City officials are already buying land. Council gave permission and $130 million for the effort last June. They’re 28 per cent complete, based on the initial list of required properties.
That list has been nominally public since concept designs were approved in 2013, but many employees and even the local councillors didn’t know specifics.
Locations were on the detailed drawings posted online but never listed by address.
Even after Postmedia spent hours cross-referencing those drawings with a map of city property lines, officials would not confirm the accuracy of Postmedia’s list.
“I’d be shocked,” said Coun. Scott McKeen when told Western Cycle is on the list.
The 83-year-old building with the recognizable neon sign sits at 104 Avenue and 124 Street.
He checked with city officials, who first said it isn’t on the list, then called him back to say it is.
“I’m not happy about that,” said McKeen, who plans to ask if there are any options to save it. “The elimination of a flagship, that’s the kind of cost we’d want to weigh ... They’re part of the fabric of the city.”
Coun. Andrew Knack knew the United Way building is on the list. What he’s wrestling with is the impact of running 149 Street under the LRT tracks to reduce traffic congestion. On-off ramps would require extra space to the west.
REDEVELOPMENT
It’s a lot of businesses to bulldoze, but at the same time, “we can’t forget that’s a site that is almost certainly going to get redeveloped,” Knack said after joining Postmedia on Facebook Live to discuss the west LRT last week.
Low-floor LRT and this alignment was selected because of the redevelopment potential, Knack said. “There’s no way those businesses continue to exist there in their current form 10 years into the future if LRT is there.”
There’s no way those businesses continue to exist there in their current form 10 years into the future if LRT is there.
Landowners are offered market value for their property. Additional compensation is considered on a case-by-case basis, according to the city’s legal staff. It’s unclear what that means for long-term tenants.
Eva Cheung, project manager for the LRT, said the city didn’t contact individual landowners in 2013, when the land was initially identified, because without funding committed, they had no timeline for construction.
Instead, they bought land as it became available, then started negotiations in earnest last summer, after council approved a land budget.
TRACK ISN’T FLEXIBLE
They really try to minimize the land needs, said Cheung in an interview Thursday. But that’s the unique challenge of LRT — a large scale, linear piece of infrastructure. To be functional, it has to go right through the high-density areas.
“We want to bring the train to where people want to be, where they are now, and where the greatest potential is for further development,” she said. “(Unfortunately), those are the areas with a narrower right-of-way.”
As for Western Cycle, “it’s very unfortunate,” she said. But the building was constructed right to the sidewalk. “There’s really not much wiggle room. ... Track isn’t as flexible as roadway.”