EDC’s Connect2Edmonton—C2E—continues to grow. With more than 600 members in nine countries, it has become one of the best means of learning and informing about what’s happening in Edmonton, sharing ideas about the city, commenting on current topics, introducing new ones, and promoting the city’s many attributes. You can vent there too.
C2E’s latest contest, “Great Ideas for a Greater Edmonton,” ran in October and November, and the results should be available about the same time this column appears. As EEDC Director of Communications Kenn Bur put it to me, “This concept is really without precedent as it’s an attempt to gather up ideas from everyone who cares about Edmonton, big and small, that could improve our community. Perhaps most importantly, there will be a process with C2E volunteers to prioritize the top-10 ideas to transform our region from good to great.” The list should be interesting and likely constructive; and one of the people who contributed to the list will be rewarded with a trip for two from Edmonton to London Heathrow, with Air Canada’s non-stop service between the two cities. If you haven’t checked out C2E, it’s definitely worth a visit:
www.connect2edmonton.ca/
I suppose it’s understandable that large-scale urban redevelopment is almost always controversial. Century Park, for example, faced open hostility from some people because of its size. Yet once approved, its first residential phase, One Century Park, sold out in six hours, and I expect that the second phase, Regent at Century Park, will more-or-less follow suit. What I find puzzling, however, is the opposition to a proposed development that will be esthetically harmonious and significantly superior to what currently exists on the site. I’m referring to the Humanity Projects’ proposal for western edge of Glenora—the area bounded by Stony Plain Road on the south, 103 Avenue on the north, 140 Street on the east, and 142 Street on the west.
The project, sitting on 4.1 acres of land, the majority of which is currently commercial or vacant (and yes, a couple of single-family homes are on the site as well), will combine residences with commercial services as well as park space with a formal garden and water feature. More specifically it would feature five slim, rounded towers of descending heights (18 to 10 storeys)—up to 255 condo units, 75 brownstone townhomes, main floor retail and second floor professional offices, a park with formal garden and central water feature, pedestrian mews, widened sidewalks and an entrance plaza, rooftop gardens, full landscaping, and public art. The renderings I have seen indicate that the project encompasses conspicuously upscale architecture by Brinsmead Ziola Kennedy, which also is responsible for the distinctive and visually pleasing Omega and Icon condos downtown, among other projects. The tallest tower, at 18 floors, is no higher than the existing Crescent Place just east of the site; it was constructed in 1968.
I do understand that change can sometimes be difficult to embrace. But when that change is a demonstrable improvement on something that currently exists, it should be welcomed. Edmonton is in fact a growing city, not just in terms of its population but also in sophistication. This project, in my view, reflects that. I truly hope it goes ahead.
David Norwood is a freelance writer/editor. Contact
[email protected] Click here to see archive editions of Civic Buzz by David Norwood
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