Edmonton may revise zoning bylaw to reduce mid-block multi-family units

Natasha Riebe · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 17, 2025 7:52 PM EDT | Last Updated: 19 minutes ago

A fig of Edmonton metropolis councillors are successful favour of amending the city's contentious zoning bylaw, successful 1 mode by reducing the fig of allowable units successful caller multi-family buildings, from 8 to six. 

The zoning bylaw — a year-and-a-half aged — allows developers to physique eight-plexes successful neighbourhoods crossed the city. 

The revised zoning bylaw that went into effect successful January 2024, reflects the city's extremity to make much lodging types and denser neighourhoods. 

Michael Janz, Ward papastew councillor, raised a question astatine the city's municipality readying committee gathering Tuesday, to headdress the fig of units successful the mediate of a block.

"In the corners, you tin inactive physique bigger units but for the mid-block, it's a designation that determination are greater impacts connected your neighbours mid-block," Janz told CBC News. 

He said 80 per cent of the complaints helium receives astir infill person been astir mid-block units. 

"We privation to spot much density successful the nodes and corridors, much density successful the precedence maturation areas, much density connected corners, not needfully the portion maximum successful a mid-block area."

The committee voted successful favour of the motion, which goes earlier a nationalist proceeding June 30 for debate, on with different suggested amendments to the zoning bylaw. 

But different councillors, not members of the municipality readying committee, reason the alteration astatine this time. 

Coun. Anne Stevenson said it's inactive excessively aboriginal to gauge the result of developments. 

"I'm not definite precisely which problems we're trying to lick with this. I cognize that determination are concerns astir parking," Stevenson told CBC News Tuesday. 

"At this constituent we person a very, precise tiny illustration size of units that person really been completed and occupied. So I don't deliberation astatine this constituent we cognize however those volition work, what impacts they'll have."

Zoning bylaw update

The committee was discussing a study that provided an update connected developments implicit the past 5 years. 

It shows the metropolis issued 555 improvement permits successful 2024 for housing, resulting successful 2,403 caller residential dwelling units. 

More than fractional of the approved units were for enactment housing, the study says. 

The fig of housing units approved successful 2024 doubled from 2023, the study shows. 

"Since 2019 determination has been an summation successful each forms of multi-dwelling housing, including backyard, semi-detached and enactment lodging developments," the study says. 

• More than 16,000 caller dwelling units approved successful Edmonton 1 twelvemonth aft caller zoning bylaw

Members of the nationalist spoke astatine the municipality readying committee, immoderate successful enactment and immoderate successful absorption to limiting the fig of units. 

Jan Hardstaff, a nonmigratory of Belgravia, said the complaint of improvement implicit the past twelvemonth has been overwhelming to communities. 

"There has been a surge successful eight-plexes are not compatible mid-block to surrounding development," Hardstaff told the committee. "They are alarmed, anxious and aggravated astatine what they are seeing, and they are experiencing existent antagonistic impacts."

• New year, caller zoning: Edmonton's municipality readying overhaul volition travel into effect Monday

Janz and Stevenson accidental assembly volition see aboriginal revisions to the zoning bylaw erstwhile needed.