Prairie Sky still hopeful for gondola as city seeks Rossdale plant redevelopment ideas

The company behind a proposal to put a gondola in Edmonton's river valley hopes it can be part of a renovated Rossdale powerplant. Jeremy Thompson reports.

As the City of Edmonton looks for ideas to redevelop the Rossdale Power Plant, one company is hoping their once council-halted plan for a gondola will be revived.

In 2019, Prairie Sky Gondola Inc. put forward a plan for a privately-owned urban gondola that would connect downtown to Whyte Avenue with a stop at the near century-old power plant.

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

The idea won the Edmonton Project competition the year before. Private investors took it on when city council voted against spending public money on the project.

Three years later, council shelved the project due to concerns with Indigenous consultation, environmental impacts and what would happen if Prairie Sky went bankrupt. The company could still revisit the plan at a later date, which it has every intention of doing.

“The dream is still very much alive,” said Prairie Sky president Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson. “All of the investors we have, all of the international partners we have, are still eager to move forward.”

He said they wanted to wait for a new mayor and council to settle in before approaching the city once again.

Prairie Sky’s proposal includes five gondola stations spanning 2.5 kilometres that would connect the north and south sides of the North Saskatchewan River. No tax-payer money would contribute to the project.

“Our proposal was to solve the connectivity problem and create an experience among the five stations that, in and of itself, was something special,” said Hansen-Carlson. “We viewed our project as a necessary input to the power plant.”

For an area with limited access points, he said a gondola would be the best and least disruptive way to get big crowds in the neighbourhood, which is also home to ReMax Centre.

He called the city’s request for information (RFI) on the Rossdale building interesting and a step in the right direction.

“I don’t know if it’s going to change the course of history. The building needs a lot of public money for it to get to a point where the private sector or a non-profit is going to be able to take the balance of risk.”

Prairie Sky is currently in talks with at least one developer about a pitch for the power plant that includes a gondola.

Newly-elected mayor Andrew Knack initially voted against moving forward with the project but did vote in favour of exploring the concept when it was first introduced.

“When it comes to revisiting the idea, I think that would depend heavily on meaningful engagement with Indigenous communities, particularly regarding the proposed location,” said Knack in an email to CTV News Edmonton. “Any proposal would need to demonstrate clear private-sector viability and strong community support before it could be reconsidered.”

Ward O-day’min Coun. Anne Stevenson, who voted against leasing the land to Prairie Sky in 2022, said she’s heard concerns from Rossdale residents about a gondola going over their backyards.

“There is technology where a side of the gondola can become frosted as it’s moving through more sensitive areas,” Stevenson considered. “If that technology can be proven and committed to, I think that goes a long way.

“But again, robust public engagement would be necessary and those technical solutions paramount.”

The city put out a RFI earlier this month to refine possibilities for the structure and identify partners.

“We’re just in the ideation phase,” said Stevenson. “I think the more ideas the merrier. The next steps will be whittling those down, figuring out what’s feasible, what’s welcome, and then having a very robust conversation with Edmontonians about what that could look like.”

The city said it will ultimately consider any ideas it receives equally.

April 30 is the deadline for RFIs on the Rossdale Power Plant.