City council mulls high development costs for new neighbourhoods

Edmonton's mayor says he's concerned about the cost of services if the city continues to expand.

Edmonton city councillors debated plans for developing new neighbourhoods on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, they had heard from administration that property taxes could increase by 40 per cent in the next 10 years because more money is needed to pay for services and staff of a growing city.

Wednesday’s debate stemmed from a public hearing on bylaws to change proposed neighbourhoods.

Mayor Andrew Knack said today’s city council has to change direction from approvals that came decades ago.

“Everything that is south of 41 Avenue S.W., authorizing planning for that also needs to come with the authorization of a clear financial plan of how we will pay for all of the necessary infrastructure,” Knack told reporters.

“The last thing we want to do is to continue what has been a decades-long challenge of approving new neighbourhoods without any plan of how you’re going to pay for the infrastructure.”

Knack says a report 10 years ago estimated the city would lose $1.4 billion in infrastructure alone creating three new neighbourhoods.

“The reality is – and why the city continues to have conversations around inflation and population growth – that the more we continue to expand our city outwards, the more we put financial pressure on our city,” Knack said.

“Those are more roads to maintain. Those are more parks to cut. There’s more rec centers to build, fire halls to build, and then to have staff in those and so this is something that the city of Edmonton has really struggled with. We are one of the least dense cities in North America, and so it’s not a shock to me that we have seen the financial challenges, particularly in relation to property taxes.”