Edmonton city council extends downtown revitalization levy to 2044

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Edmonton

Edmonton metropolis assembly voted Friday evening to widen its divisive downtown revitalization levy different decade, pursuing a two-day nationalist proceeding into the matter.

Council voted 9-4 aft 2-day nationalist proceeding into divisive levy

Nicholas Frew · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 28, 2025 7:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

People are sitting successful  table  chairs, astatine  a semi-circular desk. One person, a woman, is speaking and gesturing with her hands.

Edmonton metropolis assembly voted 9-4 to widen the Capital City Downtown Community Revitalization Levy (CRL) different 10 years, to 2044. (Madeleine Cummings/CBC)

Edmonton metropolis assembly voted Friday evening to widen its divisive downtown revitalization levy different decade, pursuing a two-day nationalist proceeding into the matter.

The 9-4 ballot came aft assembly heard from dozens of citizens speaking for and against the levy. Those who signed up to talk represented assorted parts of the downtown community, including citizens, non-profits, concern owners and post-secondary institutions. 

"Every North American downtown, coming retired of COVID, has struggled," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said during Friday's hearing, earlier the vote. "This assembly has shown a precise beardown committedness to bring much activity, much beingness into downtown, and much vibrancy into downtown."

The bundle of projected projects successful the Capital City Downtown Community Revitalization Levy (CRL), which includes a concern accidental with the Alberta authorities and OEG Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Edmonton Oilers, "allows america to physique connected that success," Sohi said.

"The clip is to act, and to enactment now," helium said. "These kinds of opportunities don't travel our mode each the time."

Friday's ballot means the downtown CRL, established successful 2015, volition beryllium successful spot until 2044. It was acceptable to expire successful 2034.

The levy lets the municipality get wealth from the provincial authorities against aboriginal spot taxation revenues to assistance wage for improvement successful the downtown area. The metropolis has 2 different CRLs to concern improvement successful different areas.

Downtown has seen $4.7 cardinal successful caller improvement since the CRL started, the metropolis said successful a quality merchandise Friday evening.

With the extension, the merchandise said, the metropolis volition see spending wealth from the CRL connected 7 caller oregon updated projects, specified arsenic expanding the Winspear Centre, improving transit infrastructure and remediating brownfield.

But there's struggle astir the downtown CRL and its usage of payer dollars to money backstage projects — namely, a projected lawsuit parkland beside Rogers Place, the Oilers' location stadium.

Nita Jalkanen, who lives successful the Parkdale neighbourhood, is among the Edmontonians who spoke against the CRL extension, suggesting taxpayers person been pouring wealth into the pockets of Daryl Katz, OEG's laminitis and chairman.

A achromatic  pistillate   with shorty blonde hairsbreadth  is wearing glasses and smiling, portion    lasting  successful  beforehand   of aggregate  microphones. She is lasting  indoors, successful  an atrium.

Nita Jalkanen, an Edmonton resident, firmly opposed extending the city's downtown CRL. (Madeleine Cummings/CBC)

"It's our wealth that's being spent similar water," Jalkanen said.

The parkland would beryllium 1 of 3 large projects wrapped into an statement betwixt the city, provincial authorities and OEG. In March, the parties announced they had signed a memorandum of understanding, signalling a willingness to determination guardant with the task portion negotiations proceed to finalize the deal.

Details of the MOU suggested the lawsuit parkland would outgo $250 million, astir one-third of which — $84 cardinal — would beryllium covered by OEG.

The MOU besides includes wealth to physique 2,500 caller lodging units successful the Village astatine Ice District, conscionable northbound of Rogers Place, and demolish the Coliseum — the Oilers' erstwhile arena — and amended the Exhibition Lands area.

Before Friday's vote, Ward pihêsiwin Coun. Tim Cartmell expressed that helium finds the conception that OEG unduly benefits from the levy to beryllium misplaced.

"Everything we do, successful presumption of the CRL, benefits a backstage landowner successful immoderate way, successful immoderate form. So it's truly a substance of scale, and we hap to person 1 landowner who's a nationalist figure," said Cartmell, who is besides a mayoral campaigner successful the upcoming civic election.

Ward Anirniq Coun. Erin Rutherford, 1 of 4 assembly members who opposed, voted based connected whether she felt locking successful CRL backing for different 10 years was right, she told assembly Friday.

"Our mentation of alteration is fallible," Rutherford said.

She felt the downtown CRL doesn't align with metropolis initiatives to support businesses from leaving, nor that it addresses societal disorder, she said.

"There's inactive not going to beryllium vibrancy," she said, noting that residents from the McCauley neighbourhood and Edmonton's Chinatown person raised concerns to council.

"Not everybody is seeing the payment of this," she said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicholas Frew is simply a CBC Edmonton newsman who specializes successful producing data-driven stories. Hailing from Newfoundland and Labrador, Frew moved to Halifax to be journalism school. He has antecedently worked for CBC newsrooms successful Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Before joining CBC, helium interned astatine the Winnipeg Free Press. You tin scope him astatine [email protected].

    With files from Madeleine Cummings

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