Woman disappointed in city’s below market sale of land in southwest Edmonton

A woman who took the City of Edmonton to court to try and stop a proposed housing project failed, but her efforts did result in some change at city hall.

A woman who took the city to court to try and stop a proposed housing project in southwest Edmonton is disappointed her efforts failed.

City council voted Wednesday to sell a parcel of land in Wedgewood Heights to be developed into townhomes – half of which will be subsidized – to Treaty 8 First Nations for $1.

“Even though I am disappointed, I’m not surprised,” said Leah Widynowski. “This decision was made a long time ago. Our voices probably didn’t really matter.”

Widynowski spearheaded the community effort to stop the below market land sale, even taking the city to court after the councillors handled 11 similar sales at the same time in late 2024.

A judge ruled the mandatory public hearing on the motion was not held, rendering the sale approval procedurally unfair.

“I was really disappointed in their response yesterday, however,” said Widynowski. “I mean, we didn’t even get so much as an apology for having to come back to this matter again because of the mistake that they made.”

City staff confirmed to council the incident will not change written policy, but in the future, administration will ensure decisions on certain issues go through a full public hearing process.

“The courts made their ruling,” said Mayor Andrew Knack. “Going forward, any time we’re talking about a land sale below market value, or removal of a land-use designation, we’ll put it in the form of a public hearing instead of a committee meeting, which is what the city did for decades.”

The homes will replace a small soccer field and a couple of children’s ball diamonds. The playground and tennis courts will remain.

Widynowski says the focus now shifts to working with the developer.