Posted Jan 21, 2015, 3:05 AM
|
|
Registered User
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 6,810
|
|
Canal key to Rossdale redevelopment, proponent says
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/...930/story.html
Quote:
EDMONTON - The city should appoint a non-profit board of business leaders to come up with a plan for the long-stalled Rossdale redevelopment, lawyer Sol Rolingher says.
Although city councillors approved a 2011 plan to add almost 2,000 housing units, stores, tree-lined boulevards, wider sidewalks and public space to the river valley community, nothing has happened.
Rolingher, former chairman of the River Valley Alliance, told council’s executive committee Tuesday his volunteer team would find a way to make the project work.
They include former Melcor chief executive Ralph Young, Qualico’s Shane Erickson and Stantec vice-president Keith Shillington.
The key to success is building a two-stage, 2.2-kilometre canal on city-owned property near Telus Field, which will easily double land values and help pay for development, Rohlingher said.
Rolingher, who has been working on the canal scheme for years, hopes to see 1,800 housing units constructed around a metre-deep canal lined with shops and restaurants.
“To me it’s about doing the right thing and making this a better place to live.”
But Coun. Ben Henderson questioned how the canal, expected to cost $36 million, would assist a development already delayed by the need for money to build roads and other amenities.
He’s concerned this could require more density, which might not be supported by residents and other groups.
“I don’t understand how adding another $60 million to that bill helps with the problem.”
|
Staples: Council needs to take serious look at canal
Canal projects have worked in other cities. Why not here?
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/...950/story.html
Quote:
Many scoffed when Rolingher first put forward the idea of a canal, but man-made lakes often drive up prices in suburban developments, while man-made canals have worked in spectacular fashion in cities like San Antonio, Tex., and Oklahoma City.
In OKC, the price of land went up fourfold in a decade around its man-made canal, Rolingher told council.
One thing in Rolingher’s favour is the business, design and real estate expertise of his group. Another is Rolingher’s success with the River Valley Alliance, a not-for-profit group that pulled together $110 million in public money to build bridges, trails and other amenities in the river valley.
“We did it then,” Rolingher says of his work with the alliance. “We’ll do it now.”
“I don’t see a downside with turning this group loose, saying, ‘Go out. Prove this can be done,’” Erickson told council. “I see very little risk with proceeding with it.”
As a property developer, Erickson has always had his eye on Rossdale, but never saw a business plan that made sense. He was intrigued by Rolingher’s suggestion of a canal, though, enough that he went down to OKC to study their canal project 14 months ago.
“Up until I went and saw it in action, to me it was just a flighty idea. It wasn’t based in reality. And then I saw what somebody else has done. It is quite simple. It does add a great amenity. And if you add all of the potential in Rossdale, it’s spectacular. We can really change that area into quite a gem.”
Stantec engineering has confirmed that the canal can be done on a palatable budget, Erickson says.
|
|