Child-care centres are popping up all over Edmonton. But not everyone is in favour

When Wanda Johnston first learned that a home in her quiet Canossa neighbourhood in north Edmonton would be converted into a child-care centre, she was upset.

The approved permit allows for a facility serving up to 34 children inside a 1,486-square-foot home. But Johnston worries about the extra traffic in a community she says is already strained for space.

"We're a quiet neighbourhood, you've got 26 houses, 13 on each street. Parking is already an issue," Johnston said in an interview.

"You can't have 40-plus vehicles plus eight staff trying to find parking, you just can't."

Johnston filed an appeal against the development, citing major concerns over traffic, noise, waste disposal, and parking congestion. That appeal was denied last month by the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board.

CBC reached out to the owner of the proposed daycare site but he declined to comment.

The number of child-care centres approved for residential neighbourhoods in Edmonton has sharply risen in 2024, due in large part to the city's zoning bylaw renewal, which came into effect in January 2024.

Under the new bylaw, child-care services are now permitted use in most standard zones — including small-scale residential areas. That marks a major shift from the previous bylaw, which treated such developments as discretionary, subject to longer review times and more opportunity for resident objections.

In 2024, the city approved 26 child-care centres in residential buildings in small-scale residential zones. The city said in total, 204 development permits were approved for child-care services last year, which is about double the number approved in each of the previous five years

Coun. Michael Janz, who chairs the city's urban planning committee, said expanding neighbourhood-based child care is essential to meet demand.

"We've been short child-care spaces," Janz said in an interview last week. "Some families have been having to go outside of their neighbourhood to find child care." 

Janz supports smaller, locally rooted options as opposed to massive "mega-centres."

"Eventually, what I hope we get towards is less of the big mega child-care centres, and more small neighbourhood-based opportunities so that wherever you are in Edmonton, wherever your family is, there can be a child-care option that's accessible and affordable and close to you," he said in an interview.

Krystal Churcher is the co-chair of ACE National — a movement that promotes and advocates for affordable and accessible child care. She said the province has a big need for more child-care spaces.