Future of downtown development to be debated over 2 days at Edmonton public hearing

Dozens of Edmontonians will be sharing their opinions on the future of downtown development as a two-day public hearing kicks off Thursday morning at city hall. 

According to the Office of the City Clerk, as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, 72 people had registered to speak at the special public hearing on whether city council should extend the downtown Community Revitalization Levy (CRL) by 10 years. 

CRLs, which allow cities to borrow money against future property tax revenues, are a way to finance development in places where revitalization might not otherwise happen.

When property values within a CRL area increase, a municipality can use the additional taxes to pay down the cost of borrowing for special projects there.

Edmonton has three CRLs, and the downtown one — established in 2015 — is set to expire in 2034. City officials say extending it by a decade would allow the city to fund more projects and implement a downtown action plan. 

The terms of the extension, and who stands to benefit from public and private investments in the core, have become contentious — and there are millions of dollars at stake. 

The extension's supporters are calling it a "generational opportunity" to improve the city without raising taxes while critics are questioning why a privately-run event park should be included in the deal.

The extension would add some new projects to a list that includes already completed ones like the downtown arena, community rink and Alex Decoteau Park.

Infrastructure for new housing in Ice District, expanding the Winspear Centre, improving LRT entrances, brownfield remediation and the event park are among the additions.

The province, the City of Edmonton and OEG Sports and Entertainment announced earlier this year that they were closing in on a deal that included a new all-season event park.

The province would pay $97 million and OEG would pay $84 million with the remainder — $69 million — coming from the City of Edmonton through the CRL extension.

The current CRL also has a number of projects that are in progress, like Warehouse Park, north of Jasper Avenue, between 106 and 108 Streets, and a pedway on 103A Avenue.

A recent city report says the CRL has attracted new investment and spurred development downtown to the tune of $4.7 billion.

"I think that the CRL makes sense to a lot of proponents because it's worked with the arena project before, and so it's seen as a continuation of that," said Dan Mason, a sport management professor at the University of Alberta who consulted on the arena deal but has no involvement in the extension.