VIRTUAL MEETING WITH WEST ELBOW LAP TEAM
Monday June 10, 2024 at 7pm – please email ecaplanningchair@gmail.com for invite link
Draft Chapters 1 and 2 of the West Elbow Local Area Plan (LAP) are now available here:
The West Elbow Communities LAP Team requested a meeting with the ECA Planning Committee to discuss our vision for the Erlton community. The Planning Committee generally solicits the views of the general membership and at this time we have no agreed-upon vision for the Erlton Community; therefore, we have set up a virtual meeting with the LAP team. All interested residents may attend. If you are interested but unable to participate, the information from the LAP meeting will be discussed at the ECA general meeting on June 11 when we expect to discuss and get membership approval for the ECA vision for our community, to communicate to the LAP team.
Relevant Information
The Erlton Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP) was adopted in 1982 and amended as necessary to accommodate specific applications. It is very dated, and the City created the LAP framework to address the need to update older ARPs as well as to provide a redevelopment plan for communities that did not have an ARP. As you are likely aware, the City recently passed a resolution to increase density in the inner city. The base zoning was increased to R-CG with significant comment from affected community associations. The ECA did not comment during this process, because our base zoning in south Erlton is already higher than R-CG, other than the land along the south side of 25th Ave and north side of 27th which remained R-C2 due its location within the floodway. Much higher densities are already approved or built in north Erlton.
Background re Erlton ARP
The densities in the Erlton ARP when it was adopted in 1982 were a compromise between developers and resident homeowners (some of whom joined to form the Erlton Community Association in 1978). At the time, all of Erlton was zoned R2 (now R-C2). The majority of properties in north Erlton had been assembled by developers who were working on increasing densities, but the majority of south Erlton was owned by individuals. In the late 1970s developers optioned homes in south Erlton and wanted the area rezoned to R4 (which allowed apartment buildings). There was a great deal of tension between resident and non-resident property owners (which is the reason our bylaws do not allow non-resident property owners to be voting members of the ECA). The Erlton ARP was a compromise which rezoned all of Erlton not in the floodway to RM2 (now M-CGd72) while the area within the floodway could be redeveloped to higher densities subject to compliance with floodway design requirements. The other major issues in the ARP were cemetery expansion (which is still a great concern) and potential expansion of Rogers Cable on 31st Ave (a big deal in the late 80s with constant repair truck traffic on the hill but not so much now).
With the construction of the Springbank off-stream reservoir, the flood restrictions will likely be lifted in the near future, allowing development in the area between 25th and 27th Avenues.
Important issues to be discussed
The LAP team is proposing, for discussion purposes, densities as shown in the attached map extracted from Chapter 2 of the draft. The draft growth map in the Erlton area shows land in south Erlton between 25th and 27th Avenues as Potential Growth Area (7 – 12 storeys) and the land between 27th and 28th Avenues as well as the land in north Erlton west of Erlton Street (currently developed to townhouses) as Potential Growth Area (4 – 6 storeys). This is much greater than what is currently in the Erlton ARP and will be a significant change to what exists and is allowed at this time.
The ECA urges affected residents to participate at the June 10 or 11 meetings, or by email reply once the meetings have taken place and information is distributed.