Phil Sande, December 2010. Photo by Mack Male.

Late last week I got the chance to talk with Phil Sande, Executive Director of City Centre Redevelopment, to see if he could shed some light on the project and how things will unfold until Feb 28—the deadline for public input on the conceptual designs—and beyond.

If you’re just tuning in, there are five conceptual designs under consideration for the transformation of the City Centre Airport into a residential development for up to 30,000 people over the next twenty-five years or so. We’ll be looking at these designs in detail this week. Up until February 28, members of the public can give input on these designs, and shortly after that the city’s selection committee will recommend a design for council’s approval.

The Designs

So what does the project’s executive director think of the designs?

“I’m thrilled with them. The reason why I am is that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the proposals. I’ve now also had the the opportunity along with the selection committee to listen to the interviews with each of the teams,” Sande says, highlighting council’s vision of a world class sustainable development. “I’m very pleased with what we have here for the teams.”

While it’s reasonable to think that the designs will represent what ultimately is done on the site, the reality isn’t so simple.

“They are more so for defining, and helping us work through, the best team that we’ll ultimately choose,” he explains. “In terms of how much the design itself may stay the same or change, that will actually evolve as we go through the ensuing fifteen month master plan process.”

“Each of the designs that you’re seeing right now are conceptual in form, and that concept provides us with knowledge on how that team approaches this particular property and what the Edmonton solution should be. That concept certainly can change.”

The Selection Process

The selection committee is made up of people from within City Administration and outside experts in fields such as real estate, business, planning, and sustainability.

“We’ve got the gentleman who was the project manager for the Hammarby development in Stockholm, Sweden, which is world renowned as being, if not the leading development of this type, certainly one of the top five in the world for this type of development,” Sande says. “He brings to the table of course all of that knowledge and wisdom of how to do it right, and what’s the best way to do this.”

The selection committee weighs the designs and how well they address the key areas required—planning & design, ecological footprint, infrastructure, family housing, open space, technology, and history. The committee must also be convinced the selected design team is able to work with the city in delivering a final design that suits the requirements of Edmonton.

Public Participation

For those concerned that there’s so little time to give input, Mr Sande has some consolation.

“The information that’s being provided until the 28th from the public comment is actually going to be used in two components. The first component is to provide it directly back to the selection committee for their consideration of what the public is saying regarding each of these five submissions.”

“All of this information is also being packaged together so that we can then bring that back into the master planning process, and utilize all of the wonderful ideas or the thoughts that the public says, ‘You know, I don’t want to see x on this property.’”

“This will be an ongoing engagement,” he concludes.

The fifteen month planning process will finalize the design and involve everything from figuring out where to put the roads and parks to working out the economics and marketing of the development.

What They Envision

From the very beginning of the discussion to close the City Centre Airport, there’s been a cocktail of buzzwords thrown around, used to describe a sustainable net-zero world class mixed use development. This may sound like nonsense but there is a certain quality of life envisioned when using these words.

Part of it involves using more efficient technologies so that utility bills, particularly heat, are lower. I’d be very disappointed if this development doesn’t use a district heat and power system for maximum efficiency.

More obvious is the urban form of this development, and what its location in the core of the city allows.

“It’s with the intent of providing a sense of place for people to be able to live here, to a large extent to work here, and to play here, where you’re not having to hop in your car to drive down perhaps to a large park elsewhere. You’ll actually be able to enjoy park space that’s significantly large in size,” Sande says.

“When you do urban development of this type, because you’re increasing the density on site, what that’s also doing is increasing the total amount of land available for public amenities, so there will be greater opportunity for more people to have excellent access to parks, to plazas, to open spaces.”

“This is a developer’s dream site to have a parcel like this become available… to have it located that close to downtown, to have a major shopping mall… to have an institution like NAIT,” he adds.

Much of the site’s potential comes from the businesses, institutions, and infrastructure already surrounding the site, and that residents will have convenient access.

“[In the suburbs] you’re located at distance from the major hospitals or at distance from a shopping mall of Kingsway’s calibre, or at distance from a university or a NAIT facility. Those things are all right there, and we already have immediate access to the LRT.”

Construction and Finance

This project is economically interesting because so much capital investment is required to make the desired final form. Some or all of the designs call for extensive landscaping, artificial water bodies, exotic energy conservation or production schemes, and grand public spaces. This is all in addition to the investment necessary for any other development: power lines, storm drains, roads, and more. So, how does the city pay for all of this when nobody is living there? How do you get people to move in when nothing’s there yet?

“Some of that will be phased in over time, it might not necessarily be constructed in that very first phase, in order to deal with your economics appropriately,” Sande explains. “And equally, there might be really good reasons to do significant components of it early in order to move the program forward from a positive marketing perspective. That’s all part of what will be discussed and figured out through that 15 month time frame.”

Okay, but will the project make money for the city overall?

“It should make money through the two aspects of sale of subdivided land at the end of each of the phases, and secondly through the additional taxes that are generated on land that has now got significantly more capital improvements on it, which means that it has more opportunity for taxes.”

In Closing

This project is a big deal for the city, and will shape how a large portion of it develops over the coming years. So be sure to give your input and have your voice heard before and after February 28th. Attend one of the open houses or give your opinions online. That’s not just my opinion:

“I would really recommend that people take the time to see what it is that these conceptual designs are suggesting … and provide their comments and observations to help collectively make this the absolute best this can be,” Sande concludes. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for Edmonton and for the people that live here—for us Edmontonians.”