Edmonton Construction 9 (2008-08)

[GoMod]

^They're (BZKA) all over the place!

[Coldrsx]

good to see

City program will repair deteriorating neighbourhoods

Would boost property taxes two per cent over three years

BY GORDON KENTDECEMBER 8, 2008 12:30 PMBE THE FIRST TO POST A COMMENT


EDMONTON — A proposed two-per-cent boost in property taxes over each of the next three years will let Edmonton start a long-term program to repair deteriorating neighbourhoods, says a senior city official.

The program will boost the 2009 budget for this work to $78 million from $63 million, paying for preventive maintenance and asphalt roads overlays in 13 districts where the upgrades otherwise wouldn’t have happened, capital construction general manager Mike Koziol said Monday.

Maintenance is now scheduled next year for Glengarry, Elmwood, Brookside, Kildare, Quesnell Heights, Northmount, Kenilworth, Lynnwood and Forest Heights, while roads in Ogilvie Ridge, Sakaw, Delwood and McLeod are due for overlays.

The two-year reconstruction of roads, sidewalks, curbs and street lights was already planned to start in Meadowlark and Lendrum, as well as being completed in Parkdale.

Taxes on the typical home will rise by $90 over three years to pay for the program, which will be re-examined after 2011, Koziol told a news conference.

The city has a backlog of about 80 neighbourhoods that meet the criteria for reconstruction, although the timing of the work is co-ordinated with the need for sewer replacement, he says.

An additional 80 areas require maintenance. The backlog is expected to take about 20 years to eliminate under the current program, but by then other aging neighbourhoods will need work.

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© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/City+prog...rating+neighbourhoods/1048418/story.html

[240glt]

^ The Parkdale upgrades look really nice. New light standards, new concrete sidewalks, new rounded curbs, barrier free crosswalks, new asphalt and new grass on the boulevards.

[Coldrsx]

I would like to see Oliver and Mckay Avenue worked on... my sidewalks are falling apart.

[240glt]

I just got a looksee at the 95% drawings for the Ironwood office tower.

Looks like RFP's in January.

[vaportrail]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

link - http://www.urbiaconstruction.ca/

i feel like i should cheer but cant help but laugh

I find the concept striking.

Whether such a quality can be delivered by this developer and with appropriate location context is an entirely different issue. But I hardly think the board's ubiquitous animosity is necessary at the concept stage. If it were a concrete bunker, okay but, geez, shoot a guy for trying.

[Coldrsx]

^ok i will give you it is hard to pass final judgement on these yet, but for me... they are "overdone".

but as always, prove me wrong urbia

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by 240glt

I just got a looksee at the 95% drawings for the Ironwood office tower.

Looks like RFP's in January.

good to hear... i think

[240glt]

Well it's getting built whether we like it or not... Architectual merit asside it will be good to have that DT parking lot gone.

It'll likely be the last office tower started in Alberta for a while I bet....

[kcantor]

Originally Posted by 240glt

Well it's getting built whether we like it or not... Architectual merit asside it will be good to have that DT parking lot gone.

It'll likely be the last office tower started in Alberta for a while I bet....

want to raise the s2000 wager with a project sedan do we?

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by cdnklc

want to raise the s2000 wager with a project sedan do we?

haha, oh ken

[240glt]

I'll put up a partially disassembled 1982 Volvo turbo to get in on that bet.

I'd gladly lose that bet too. I need my garage back.

[kcantor]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

haha, oh ken

Originally Posted by 240glt

I'll put up a partially disassembled 1982 Volvo turbo to get in on that bet.

I'd gladly lose that bet too. I need my garage back.

well Coldrsx? she's parked for the winter anyway - by the time spring gets here you won't even miss her...

[Kevin_foster]

Originally Posted by cdnklc

just thought i would add a different perspective from the overhead one. for "scale", check out the full sized back-hoes in the centre of the frame...

That's a massive construction site.

[MrOilers]

Originally Posted by wco

New Rendering From the Urbia Construction Website

The hell with all of you. I rather like them.

[Jasper and one o nin]

I like it... I question the developer however

[CMD UW]

Originally Posted by cdnklc

that's the existing delta suites hotel on top of the bay... the "rendering" looks like it's been done from the corner of manulife at 102 ave and 103 st.

Yes the perspective is looking west from 102 Street alon 102 Ave.

IMO - The rendering is too vague to comment on other than its massing. I do agree with cold, why can't they follow the Mies van der Rohe 'less is more' philosophy?

[chevvac]

The massing of those towers look like they arrived from outer space. But honestly, these are a 5 minute model in sketch up, likely to change as they probably were produced so that Urbia would have some imagery to toss around.
(I am hoping this is the case anyways because they arent great).

[kcantor]

Originally Posted by CMD UW

Yes the perspective is looking west from 102 Street alon 102 Ave.

IMO - The rendering is too vague to comment on other than its massing. I do agree with cold, why can't they follow the Mies van der Rohe 'less is more' philosophy?

perhaps because his plazas and urban edges are extremely brutal, uninviting, cold and unused spaces with no street or pedestrian interaction or sense of human scale?

[240glt]

Council OKs extra millions for fourplex arena

Unstable soil drives up project's estimated cost

By Gordon KentDecember 9, 2008

EDMONTON - Edmonton will have the first fourplex arena in Alberta after city council voted Monday to approve the project as part of the new Southwest Community Recreation Centre.

The fourplex arena is expected to cost $53.7 million, up from the $46-million estimate provided last spring.

The recreation centre itself will cost about $106.3 million. Under construction near Terwillegar Drive and 23rd Avenue, it is scheduled to open in 2010. The arena could open a few months later.

The arena cost has risen mainly because the contractor discovered unstable soil that needs more foundation pilings than originally planned.

Mayor Stephen Mandel said he wasn't happy with the idea of borrowing another $7.7 million to cover the higher cost of the arena.

"I can't support this. It's more tax-supported debt. We're going to be well over a billion dollars by the time we're done (and) we haven't done anything with a rec centre in Lewis Estates."

The move followed a meeting of council's community services committee, in which hockey officials and arena users argued Edmonton needs more indoor ice.

Edmonton Minor Hockey Association president Lorne MacDonald said his 8,500-player organization has to turn down tournaments and provincial championships because of lack of space.

The number of minor teams grew to 563 this year from 509 in 2006, he said.

"We're challenged for ice ... We're probably the weakest program in an urban centre in Alberta."

The city's arena strategy calls for the construction of 10 rinks by 2019. Bert Boutin, co-chair of the arena user committee, said adding four sheets in the southwest is an important part of meeting this target.

"If you build two now and two later, we're concerned the two later will take too long to build ... and we will be in a worse position than we are now."

The four-rink option is expected to bring in $100,000 more revenue than its $1.6-million operating cost by 2013, community services general manager Linda Cochrane said.

There are no such facilities in Alberta, though similar ones do exist in a few other provinces, she said.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Council+extra+millions+fourplex+arena/1050406/story.html