Blatchford moving too slowly: Sohi
Housing crisis means city needs to pick up the pace, mayor says
Blatchford, Edmonton's flagship sustainable community, was under scrutiny at city hall as some members of council raised concerns and questioned its success and how the city tracks progress.
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said he's long been a defender of the community, but he's concerned about the pace of development and problems revealed by the city auditor.
City councillors on Monday reviewed an auditor's report which found the Blatchford redevelopment unit isn't properly measuring progress because it doesn't have an effective system to track its goals.
Despite the expected 2042 completion date with $39 million in profit for city coffers, the audit found those projections lacked evidence, meaning results could be much different.
Council's audit committee questioned city administration about the audit's findings and the progress of Blatchford as a whole.
The mayor asked Tom Lumsden, the city's head of development for Blatchford, how many homes are occupied in the neighbourhood today compared to two-and-a-half years ago.
Lumsden responded 84 homes, including basement or garage suites, are occupied today and guessed around 20 were occupied two-and-a-half years ago.
Postmedia archives show more than 30 homes were occupied by July 1, 2022, and 45 by Oct. 13, 2022.
“So it's not a huge success, from 20 to 84,” Sohi said.
Lumsden responded, “It's making progress, the builders are building as fast as they can and they're putting them into homes.”
He added that about 90 more units were set to open soon as land sales were being finalized for a four- to six-storey building.
The mayor said he's concerned about how slow it is progressing and he wants to see hard data that shows progress.
“I have been defending this development, I think it is a beautiful development, absolutely, I believe in the goals, but I am concerned about how slow we are going on this,” he said during the meeting. “It's becoming more and more difficult to maintain that confidence.”
Sohi told reporters Blatchford is ambitious and he wants to find ways to accelerate the pace of development as more people make Edmonton their home, and a housing crisis continues in Canada.
“These are the kind of communities a lot of people desire to live in, and we need to create that kind of choice for Edmontonians, so I completely believe in the value of Blatchford. Where my concerns are, around the slow pace of the development. We need to find a way to accelerate that development,” he said. “We need more housing, not less housing, including affordable housing.”
Ward pihêsiwin Coun. Tim Cartmell was not shy about his concerns about the development's progress.
“My level of confidence has always been rather low in this project. It's lower today,” he said.
“I don't think any of us need to be reminded about the current climate around property taxes and finances, and the scrutiny we're all under. I'm going to have a very difficult time walking out of here saying `confidence has been restored, we are ready to go.'”
Cartmell said council hasn't been getting enough information and, at times, conflicting information. For instance, when he asked why there weren't lower-cost options for sale he was previously told there will be more affordable options as development continues. However, on Monday city administrators said council will make more profit in the future because housing prices will go up as the neighbourhood becomes more attractive.
“Let's get some actual facts on the table and then build on those facts,” he said.
Cartmell would like to see the city revisit the idea of a municipal
Let's get some actual facts on the table and then build on those facts.
land development corporation, but he doesn't think his council colleagues would support it.
“To have a municipal development corporation that would essentially be the Epcor of land development wholly owned by the city, but operating in the private sector like a private company, would give us far better results, and I've long maintained that,” he said.