FAQs

Because the land was originally dedicated to the City as Municipal Reserve (MR), it was intended for public use.  City Council has a policy to guide the use of funds from the sale of public lands (see below). 

This policy ensures that the revenues from such land sales will be used to provide another form of public good or need.  

Policy C468A - Policy to Govern the Use of Funds from the Sale of Surplus School Sites

A Drainage Study and Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments have been completed.

At this time, we don't have detailed information about the future use of the site. But from our high level assessment, the site was originally planned to accommodate a school, so the surrounding roads were designed to have the capacity to also accommodate the amount of traffic that would have been associated with a school.  Accordingly, the adjacent roads have capacity and are within the range of volume thresholds of the collector roads (38 Street and 38 Avenue). When a Development Permit is sought for the site, Transportation can ask for a traffic study to know the impacts of the development on the adjacent roads.

In 2009, the local school board deemed this site surplus to their needs.

We have sent a circulation to both internal and external reviewing agencies, and to the public.

Thus far we have received the following responses from the public: 

• People double park (illegally);
• Will increase traffic;
• Will increase traffic at the intersection of 38 Avenue and 38 Street;
• Soccer fields are used for organized sports and leave little space for passive use. 
• Opposed to large buildings;
• Loss of green space; and
• Moved to the area to live by the park space.

Some are excited to see the following uses:

• New childcare services;
• Specialty food services;
• Restaurants with a pub; and
• Tennis Courts/other sports facilities.
• Other Retail or services

Yes, these applications are part of the process to facilitate a land sale.

Because the subject site was always intended to accommodate a Public School, drainage (sewer) connections were installed within the abutting streets when the roads and neighbourhood were originally built.

The surface drainage of the site will be reviewed at the Development Permit stage, and will be required to comply with the Drainage Plan for the neighbourhood.

The current NASP designates this location as a school/park site.  An amendment to the plan is needed to allow for the proposed institutional uses.

• The Kiniski Gardens webpage was set up on edmonton.ca the week of April 20, 2020 and is continuously updated.
• On April 14, 2020 City Planning sent out advance postcard to all property owners in the Kiniski Gardens neighbourhood.

The project is currently in the regulatory review stage for the rezoning and plan amendment.  As part of the process, City Staff

• Ensures technical review is completed by subject matter experts; 
• Collects knowledge and feedback from the public to ensure a comprehensive analysis; and
• Ensures public feedback is considered by the applicant.

Feedback from the Virtual Public Engagement session will be formulated into a What We Heard Document (WWH). The WWH report will be provided to those who supply their email/ mailing address at the Virtual Public Engagement session  event. It will also be posted on the planning applications webpage. The WWH report will also be shared with Council when the application goes forward to a Public Hearing. This will inform Council of the opinions of nearby residents prior to making their decisions.

It is anticipated the application will proceed to Public Hearing in December 2020. 

The Planning Department will provide  a land use report on the planning merits of the application which will help City Council to make an informed decision.

City staff hopes to gather feedback from participants on what they like about the proposal, what they don’t like about the proposal, and any local knowledge that could help City Council make their decision.

When reviewing and processing any land development applications, The Planning Department considers:

• conformance with approved plans, policies, and regulations;
• compatibility with surrounding land uses in the neighbourhood;
• technical information (i.e. traffic impacts, as well as servicing and drainage requirements); and
• public input.

Once the Public Engagement Session and the review of the proposal is complete, a Public Hearing date will be scheduled and the adjacent landowners and the community league (approx 2000 people) will be notified by mail. The Public Hearing will also be advertised in the Edmonton Journal.

There will be a number of opportunities for residents to have input into the proposed changes, including:

• Through this remote open house from October 19th - November 9th.
• Providing comments and questions directly to the File Planner (see below); and 
• Sharing their thoughts with Council when the applications go before City Council at a public hearing.

Residents can also contact the Planner responsible for the rezoning application, Vivian Gamache at 780-944-0122 or vivian.gamache@edmonton.ca

or

The Applicant, Bwale Bwalya at 780-496-6293 or by email at bwale.bwalya@edmonton.ca