A lady in Dovercourt is raising the alarm about infill. But is she ringing the right bell? Find out in my new segment:
We've all heard someone on Facebook, or in a news article, or screaming at Thanksgiving about monster eight-plexes taking over the entire neighbourhood.
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Darcy RopchanWith one neighbour saying she's ready to chain herself to a tree to stop development on this house behind me. Constance Williams tells CityNews she's lived in the Dovercourt neighbourhood in northwest Edmonton for nearly 70 years. Now living two doors down from this empty home, slated to be torn down and turned into an infill eight-plex. But she believes this cul-de-sac can't handle an influx of more people or vehicles.
How many eight-plexes?
In Dovercourt, the number of seven- and eight-plexes that have applied for permits is... well, it's four. In the entire neighbourhood.
Every seven- and eight-plex permit in Dovercourt.
That's about one half of 1% of the low-density stock in this neighbourhood that's been redeveloped into this type of housing since the new zoning bylaw came into force two years ago.
An influx of new people
She believes that the neighbourhood can't handle an influx of new people. But when she was growing up, for example, in the 1971 census, Dovercourt had a population of just over 3,600 people. In 2021, that had declined to just over 2,100 people.
- Dovercourt, 1971 census
- 3,600
- Dovercourt, 2021 census
- 2,100
- new eight-plexes to get back to 1971
- 50
Just to maintain the character of this neighbourhood that she's used to, population is going to have to nearly double. Which means about 50 new eight-plexes would be required just to maintain the character of this neighbourhood.
Oh, but Troy, what about the parking?
Well, this cul-de-sac has 17 lots serviced by about 500 m of street parking space, or about 29 m per lot.
The Dovercourt cul-de-sac: 17 lots.
Compare this to another mature neighbourhood near where I live, Ritchie, where a typical block can contain 28 lots with 374 m of street parking space, or about 13 m per lot. That's less than half of Dovercourt.
A typical block in Ritchie: 28 lots.
And every house in this Dovercourt cul-de-sac has alley access, which looks like this, and this, and this, and this.
But maybe this lot is just a bad candidate for infill?
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Constance WilliamsIt's a big lot.
Oh, yeah. I'm gonna recommend holding off on chaining yourself to a tree for now.
Maybe just hang out inside? Read a nice book?
The High Cost of Free Parking, by Donald Shoup, and Paved Paradise, by Henry Grabar.
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