Agenda Item No.: E.1.b.
Terms of Reference for Residential Infill Strategy – Smart Choices Program (Effect of
Infill on Surrounding Communities; A Proposal for a Neighbourhood Plan for Grovenor)
Recommendations:
That the November 8, 2005, Planning and
Development Department report
2006PDP012 be received for information.
Report Summary
This report, and the attached Terms of
Reference, outline the proposed scope,
and process for preparing a Residential
Infill Strategy.
This report also describes how two
motions of Executive Committee
regarding the effect of infill on
surrounding communities, and the
preparation of a neighbourhood plan for
Grovenor, will be addressed by the
Residential Infill Strategy.
History
On March 23, 2004, City Council
approved “Smart Choices for Developing
Our Community”. This report contained
nine recommendations, including the
following:
That a small-scale and medium density
infill strategy be developed to encourage
infill and enhance certainty in
redevelopment situations for
communities and development
proponents. The strategy will
investigate better ways to align
community and developer expectations
by:
 identifying characteristics that
indicate strong small-scale or
medium density redevelopment
potential;

identifying geographic areas that
meet those characteristics or
neighbourhoods facing significant
Routing:
Delegation:
Written By:
November 8, 2005
File: 2006PDP012
redevelopment pressure (or invite
neighbourhoods to identify
themselves);

undertaking community development
or education exercises to raise
community awareness of potential
redevelopment activity, to discuss
community expectations and to
inform the community about urban
design options for redevelopment
that lessen the negative impacts on
the community; and

developing neighbourhood specific
urban design principles for potential
redevelopment projects from those
exercises.
City Council subsequently identified the
development of a Residential Infill
Strategy as one of four initial priorities
for the Smart Choices Program, when
they approved the following
recommendation contained in the
"Urban Sustainability Initiative Action
Plan” on August 31, 2004:
That Smart Choices implementation
shall initially focus on the following
priority areas:
1. Neighbourhood Re-investment;
2. Transit-oriented Development;
3. Infill Strategy (supported by
elements of walkability and
urban design); and
4. Development Incentives for the
infill and Transit-Oriented
Development Strategies.
On March 9, 2005, Executive Committee
passed this motion, following debate on
the proposed Century Park development:
City Council
L. Benowski/H. McRae/G. Barker/M. McConnell-Boehm
G. Barker
PLEASE RETAIN THIS REPORT
Planning and Development Department
(Page 1 of 4)
FOR FUTURE MEETINGS
E
1
b
Terms of Reference for Residential Infill Strategy – Smart Choices Program (Effect of
Infill on Surrounding Communities; A Proposal for a Neighbourhood Plan for Grovenor)
That Administration report back to
Executive Committee no later than
August 24, 2005, on the
development of a set of principles
and terms of reference for addressing
local and downstream infrastructure
impacts of infill.
On June 29, 2005, Executive Committee
passed the following motion, after
considering a request by the Grovenor
Community League to have a
neighbourhood plan prepared for their
community:
That the Administration prepare
Terms of Reference which will
facilitate the review of mature
neighbourhoods from the perspective
of such key elements as
intensification and urban design,
rather than individual neighbourhood
plans.
Executive Committee granted the
Planning and Development Department
an extension of the deadlines for a
response to these latter two motions to
January 2006.
Report
The City of Edmonton Senior Management
Team approved the Terms of Reference for
the Residential Infill Strategy at their
meeting of December 2, 2005.
The purpose of the Residential Infill
Strategy project is:
to identify opportunities for residential
infill development in Edmonton, and to
establish procedures, zoning regulations,
design guidelines, and incentives that
will facilitate quality, small-scale and
medium density residential infill that is
compatible with existing development in
the city’s older neighbourhoods; and
to increase public acceptance of
residential intensification, enhance
certainty in redevelopment situations for
communities and development
proponents, and reduce the number of
rezoning applications which proceed to
City Council Public Hearings for
resolution.
The scope of this Project, in accordance with
the Smart Choices Recommendation and the
Council Motion of March 2005, will involve
the following major tasks:
Preparation and testing of a list of
characteristics/criteria that will be used
by the Planning and Development
Department to identify areas and sites in
older neighbourhoods with strong
potential for residential infill and
redevelopment;
Development and implementation of a
community education program that
will provide general information about
the process for preparing the Residential
Infill Strategy; describe the existing
regulations and planning process
governing residential infill, and possible
changes; increase public awareness and
understanding of the benefits of
residential infill; and, bring to their
attention potential opportunities for infill
in their respective neighbourhoods;
Preparation of a residential infill atlas
with maps showing areas and sites within
29 older neighbourhoods that have strong
potential for small-scale and medium
density residential infill and
redevelopment;
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Terms of Reference for Residential Infill Strategy – Smart Choices Program (Effect of
Infill on Surrounding Communities; A Proposal for a Neighbourhood Plan for Grovenor)
Completion of a market analysis to
determine the demand for infill
development in Edmonton (location,
magnitude, type of housing, and
amenities);
Preparation of design guidelines for
infill development;
Amendments to zoning regulations
(including the Mature Neighbourhoods
Overlay), to facilitate residential infill
(this could include broadening the range
of permitted uses in the low density
residential zones);
Establishment of principles and cost –
recovery mechanism(s) for addressing
local and downstream impacts of
residential infill and redevelopment on
hard and soft infrastructure;
Customization of a planning and
consultation processes for
infill/redevelopment applications;
Completion of pro-forma analyses to
determine development economics for
various types of infill development;
Identification of incentives that the City
might use to promote small-scale
residential infill and medium density
redevelopment; and;
Construction of demonstration projects
to promote small scale residential infill
and medium density redevelopment.
The core work of the project and the
initiation of the proposed Design-Build
Residential Infill Competition is estimated
to be completed in 2.5 years.
Local and Downstream Infrastructure
Impacts of Infill
The task of developing a set of principles to
address the local and downstream impacts of
infill on infrastructure, as requested by the
Executive Committee of Council in their
motion of March 9, 2005, will be undertaken
as part of the project to prepare the
Residential Infill Strategy.
The Infill Atlas and the Market Analysis
will provide information to develop growth
scenarios about the location and magnitude
of potential infill. This information will be
compared with information about
infrastructure capacity to evaluate the
possible impacts on infrastructure.
A set of principles and cost-recovery
mechanisms or procedures will then be
developed to address these impacts. These
principles and procedures will take their cue
from current practices such as the Permanent
Area Contributions, Land Drainage Utility
Fee and the Sanitary Servicing Strategy
Fund.
In drafting the principles and proposals for
cost-recovery mechanisms, consideration
will be given to equity, ease of
administration, economic impact, and fiscal
results. Consideration will also be given to
their possible effect of discouraging
residential infill or cancelling out the
benefits of any incentives that might be
offered for infill.
The task of preparing the principles and
cost-recovery mechanisms will involve staff
from the Transportation and Streets
Department, the Drainage Services Branch,
the Office of Infrastructure, the Law Branch,
EPCOR Power and Water, and the
(Page 3 of 4)
Terms of Reference for Residential Infill Strategy – Smart Choices Program (Effect of
Infill on Surrounding Communities; A Proposal for a Neighbourhood Plan for Grovenor)
Community Services Department. The
development industry will also be consulted.
Once prepared, a policy and/or bylaw on
Local and Downstream Infrastructure
Impacts will be sent to Council for Public
Hearing and approval.
Urban Design and Intensification
“Elements” for Mature Neighbourhoods
Rather than Individual Neighbourhood
Plans
The attached Terms of Reference for the
Residential Infill Strategy will “facilitate the
review of mature neighbourhoods from the
perspective of such key elements as
intensification and urban design, rather than
individual neighbourhood plans” as
proposed by the motion of Executive
Committee on June 29, 2005.
The proposed Strategy will identify infill
opportunities in the City’s mature
neighbourhoods, and establish zoning
regulations and design guidelines that will
apply to residential infill in these mature
neighbourhoods.
2006PDP025). These models will be
tailored to the different needs of
neighbourhoods, with the objective of
establishing a more efficient and effective
approach to issue resolution and
neighbourhood renewal.
Budget/Financial Implications
The first year of the project’s budget
($159,300) can be accommodated within
the 2006 budget of the Smart Choices
Program.
It is estimated that the project to develop
a Residential Infill Strategy will require a
total budget of $425,850 (excluding the
cost of the proposed Design/Build Infill
Competition), to be spent over a period
of approximately 2.5 years.
Background Information Attached
1. Terms of Reference for Residential Infill
Strategy – Smart Choices Program
It is anticipated that this “broad-brush”
approach will reduce the need to prepare
individual neighbourhood plans to guide
redevelopment.
It is also acknowledged that there will still
be a need to prepare more detailed plans for
some neighbourhoods or areas. It is
proposed that a toolkit of new models for
community-based planning be developed as
part of the proposed Neighbourhood Reinvestment Program project (Council report
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