Why is a historically important building allowed to be demolished?

    • The Archibald Block has been identified for its historical significance, however it has never been protected from demolition through designation under the provisions of the Historical Resources Act. 

    • City Administration does not have the authority to forcibly designate a building against a landowner’s wishes.

    What options do the City or the Province have with regards to protecting the building from demolition if the landowner doesn’t want to designate it?

    • Both City Council and the Provincial Minister of Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women have the ability to designate the building against the owner’s wishes. 

    • In the case of City Council, they are required to compensate the landowner for any lost economic value resulting from the designation. The required compensation would be considerable and generally this is not considered a viable or economically sustainable approach to protecting Edmonton’s built heritage. City Council has never taken this action, rather City policy is explicitly to encourage voluntary designation through the provision of incentives.

    • In the case of the Province, they are not required to provide compensation, and have only taken this action a handful of times, most recently in 2017 for the Tipton Investment Building east of this site at 10426 - 82 Avenue NW.

    What is a Provincial Historic Area and what does that mean for redevelopment?

    • A Provincial Historic Area is a designation that can be applied in order to recognize and manage areas of historical and architectural significance.  The Old Strathcona Provincial Historic Area is one of only two such areas in Alberta.  The Provincial Historic Area designation for Old Strathcona is honourary in nature, as it includes no specific provisions to manage the heritage of the area.  Rather the Old Strathcona Provincial Historic Area is managed by the City through powers associated with land use and development.

    There were just recent amendments to the Strathcona Area Redevelopment Plan to incorporate recommendations from the planWhyte Land Use Study, including a height restriction of 4 storeys for the historic core. Why is that not being followed?

    • Anyone has the right to make an application for rezoning or to amend a plan, regardless of how recently direction for land use was given by City Council.

    • Administration’s overall recommendation to City Council will factor in the deviation from the recent amendments to the Strathcona Area Redevelopment Plan.

    Will vehicular parking be provided on site and if so, where will the parking be for this development?

    • On June 23, 2020, City Council approved Open Option Parking, which provides developers’ flexibility to choose the amount of parking that they feel is appropriate for their projects.  The parking supply for this project will accordingly be determined at the development permit stage, though the applicant has indicated that they do not intend to provide any on-site vehicular parking.

    • If parking is provided, there is the opportunity for a small number of surface spaces to be accessed off the lane and the remainder would need to be in an underground parkade.