LDA20-0026 - Former St. John’s School Site Rezoning (10231 - 120 Street NW)

One of the models (the u-shaped one) was provided by an architect to show an idea of how they see a building being designed for a site of this shape and size. The block model was built by the City to show the full height and Floor Area Ratio of the RA8 Zone.  Shadows were created using Trimble Sketchup by the City, geolocated for Edmonton’s latitude and are accurate.  The models are in a three dimensional computer environment, so any angle, date or time can be created. Please contact the file planner, Andrew McLellan, at andrew.mclellan@edmonton.ca or 780-496-2939 to request a specific view.

Sustainable building practices, such as net-zero emissions,  are not normally regulated by the Zoning Bylaw or through zoning. These practices are regulated under the Provincial Alberta Building Code and the National Energy Code at the building permit stage, after rezoning.  

The applicant has advised they have not yet made specific design decisions around what types of sustainable features might be incorporated into this development.  However, the building would be required to be built under the 2017 National Energy Code, which came into effect in December last year. The mandated energy efficiency under the 2017 Code is a level above the previous code, and is far greater than the standards older buildings were required to meet.

On August 27, 2019 City Council voted to update the City’s Community Energy Transition Strategy (CETS) to work to limit the release of greenhouse gas emissions from now until 2050. Through this strategy, Edmonton is transitioning to a low-carbon future and is working to have all new buildings be net zero carbon before 2030, and all existing buildings be net zero carbon by 2050.

On June 23, 2020 Edmonton City Council voted to remove minimum  vehicle parking requirements from the Zoning Bylaw (item 3.22).  Eliminating parking minimums represents a significant move towards achieving the vibrant, walkable and compact city that we have heard Edmontonians want through engagement for ConnectEdmonton and the draft City Plan. 

This change means that effective July 2, 2020 developers, homeowners and businesses will be able to decide how much parking to provide based on their particular operations, activities or lifestyle.  Under the new rules, on-site barrier-free/accessible parking will continue to be provided at rates comparable to today and bicycle parking requirements have increased.

Developers, businesses and homeowners know their parking needs best and have an interest in ensuring they are met, making this approach more likely to result in the “right amount” of parking. The developer for this particular project has indicated his intention to provide approximately one parking stall per unit.

For more information on the removal of parking minimums, please visit edmonton.ca/makingspace.

The precise location of the south property line has not been verified by a survey at this stage. Rezoning deals with changes based on legal descriptions of titled parcels (lot, block, plan). Following zoning, at the Development Permit stage, a proper survey will be required to verify the precise location of all lot lines and required setbacks of new buildings from them, based on the zoning regulations. You can visit maps.edmonton.ca and turn on layers for “parcels” and use the provided measuring tools to estimate the approximate location of building setbacks. This will generally have an accuracy of +/- 1 metre.  Below is an image that shows an estimation of:

1. The location of the south property line (red)

2. The location of the 1.2 m side setback required by the proposed RA8 Zone (blue).

3. The location of the 3.0 m side setback required by the RA8 Zone for a new building above a height of 10.0 m (yellow).