Ogilvie Ridge - Building Housing Choices

To help meet current and future housing needs, a 0.8 ha site in Ogilvie Ridge located at 915 Ogilvie Boulevard will be home to a future housing development under the City’s Building Housing Choices Program (Policy C583).

In accordance with Policy C583, the housing development will:

• Be multi-family housing, with possible options ranging from townhouses to low-rise apartments
• Have up to 100 homes, depending on the design chosen
• Contain a mix of market and affordable units, which are visually indistinguishable from each other, helping ensure the development fits well within the surrounding community
• Mixing market and affordable units into one development will allow the market units to support the affordable units, making the project financially sustainable without the need for ongoing government operating subsidies

Community input will be one of several considerations that will contribute to the recommended housing concept. The recommend housing concept has not yet been finalized. Residents will be informed in advance of all upcoming engagement opportunities.

The 3.63 ha of planned open space surrounding the housing development will be retained by the City and continue to serve sports, recreation and community uses as identified in the original neighbourhood structure plan.

Ensuring all Edmontonians have an affordable place to live is an important part of building our city. A sufficient supply of safe, adequate and affordable housing is fundamental to the physical, economic and social well-being of individuals, families and communities.

What is affordable housing?
Broadly speaking, affordable housing is rental or ownership housing that requires government money, in large or small part, to build and/or operate. Affordable housing has rents or payments below average market cost, and is targeted to people from a variety of demographic groups and occupations who make below the median household income and cannot afford market prices.

Why is affordable housing needed?
It’s estimated that approximately 47,000 renter households in Edmonton spend between 30 and 50 per cent of their household income on shelter costs. This is unaffordable for a lot of people earning an average wage, including restaurant servers, retail clerks, hair stylists, and people on fixed incomes like veterans, seniors and persons with disabilities.

This housing project presents an opportunity for the Ogilvie community to provide an affordable place to live for their fellow Edmontonians, including existing Ogilvie residents, and welcome new neighbours into the community.

What are the benefits?
Access to safe, adequate and affordable housing is required for a stable and independent life, including finding and retaining employment and connecting with wider communities of interest. It has also been identified as a key pathway out of poverty.

Beyond the major benefits to the people who require affordable housing, these types of housing projects also provide direct and indirect benefits to the local community and economy. Having a diverse range of housing types, including affordable housing, brings new residents to neighbourhoods which increases the sustainability of schools and contributes to the stability, livability and resilience of the community. Households who benefit from affordable housing also have more disposable income to support local retailers and engage with community organizations.

Further, the construction and management of such housing projects supports employment opportunities in the sector and stimulates related industries, and encourages a healthy labour market by attracting new workers to the city.

For more information on affordable housing, visit affordablehousingdmonton.ca.

The Whitemud Creek Homeowners Association has been serving as an advisory committee, working with the City to provide advice on how to ensure community viewpoints on the project are heard.

Meeting Highlights

2018

May 2018 - City staff met with the Whitemud Creek Homeowners Association to review and provide comments on draft materials prepared for the June 21, 2018 Community Conversation. The suggestions provided were incorporated into the final open house materials.

2017

June 2017 - City staff met with the Whitemud Creek Homeowners Association to discuss potential impacts of their building site location preference, and the broader community’s desire for the development to be seniors’ housing. City staff have agreed to review these requests and explained that any exemptions or deviations from Council policy requires Council approval.

2016

November 2016 - The City reached out to the Whitemud Creek Homeowners Association to discuss working together to develop the criteria that will be used to solicit proposals from potential builder/operators.

May 11, 2016 - City of Edmonton Administration met with the Whitemud Creek Homeowners Association to develop an understanding of the project and review the engagement process for the June 8, 2016 community meeting. Suggestions provided were incorporated into final open house materials.

Be a part of the Ogilvie community conversation.

2016

October, 2016 - All public input received from the June, 2016 open house and online survey is reflected in the Ogilvie Ridge What We Heard II Summary.  The feedback received, along with other important criteria such as technical and financial considerations, will be used to help narrow down the five residential development scenarios presented at the June 2016 open house.

June 8, 2016 - A Community Conversation was held at George H. Luck School, the second of a series of public meetings on this project, to provide feedback from the last public meeting in November 2015, share information, receive input, and answer questions.

Scenario Guide and Reference Sheet

Housing Choices Summary

Display Boards

Presentation

Community Bulletin

Edmonton Housing Affordability Snapshot

2015

November 2015 - A Community Conversation at Whitemud Creek Community Centre, the first of a series of public meetings on this project, was held to share information, receive input and answer questions.

The results of the feedback gathered at the meeting are reflected in the Ogilvie Ridge What We Heard summary.

Display boards

Ogilvie Ridge community snapshot

Ogilvie Ridge Building Housing Choices fact sheet

Ogilvie Ridge Building forms information sheet

Ogilvie Ridge Questions and Answers

More information and context for the Community Conversation can be found in the Ogilvie Ridge Building Housing Choices October 2015 community bulletin.

July 2015 - City Council approved a new policy that said future developments on undeveloped building sites will include both market and affordable housing.

May 23, 2017 - City Administration brought an information report forward to Executive Committee on the ‘ancillary use’ provision in Policy C583 (item 6.9)  The intent of the provision is to allow housing developments on former school sites that fall under Policy C583, including the site in Ogilvie Ridge, the opportunity to include secondary uses that might complement development and/or benefit the immediate neighbourhood.

Executive Committee received the report for information, which included refining the definition for ‘ancillary use’ and a proposed set of parameters for guiding community discussions and planning decisions around the types of ancillary (or secondary) uses that could be incorporated into the housing developments.

Examples of secondary uses that align with the City’s refined ancillary use definition that could be considered include personal service shops (such as hair salons), special food services (such as coffee shops), and convenience retail stores.  The exact type of secondary use that may be incorporated into the Ogilvie Ridge housing development has not yet been finalized and will be determined in consultation with the community once a builder/operator for the site has been selected.  It will also need to meet the requirements of the specific property zoning and the Edmonton Zoning Bylaw.

April 19, 2017 -  City Administration brought an information report forward to Urban Planning Committee (item 6.3) containing a status update on the Keheewin and Ogilvie Ridge pilot surplus school site housing developments.  Urban Planning Committee received the report for information, which included an overview of the work done to date with the Whitemud Creek Homeowners Association and outlined next steps in the process.

2016

September 2016 - On September 13 2016, the City brought an information report forward to Executive Committee recommending HomeEd, the City’s non-profit housing corporation, as a potential builder/operator (item 6.4). Reasons for recommending HomeEd included:

• It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the City
• It has the capacity to both develop and operate the market and affordable choices required under Policy C583
• It has a demonstrated track record of maintaining its properties to a high standard

At that meeting, Executive Committee asked the City to include HomeEd as a potential builder/operator in the community engagement to allow residents more time to weigh in, and return to Committee with a recommendation in the first quarter of 2017.

2015

July 2015 - City Council approved a new policy (C583) that said future developments on undeveloped building sites will include both market and affordable housing.

Building Site Selection
City staff investigated moving the building site to an alternative location within the open space. An upcoming Community Conversation will discuss next steps for the project and confirm community’s preference to potential building site location.

Feedback from the Community Conversation and survey results will inform the site to be offered in the upcoming property offering.  

Builder/Operator Selection
The City has been working with the Whitemud Creek Homeowners Association to develop the guidelines the City will be using to solicit proposals and select the company responsible for building, operating and maintaining the new homes. Having a builder/operator on board will allow the City to provide some of the more detailed information many residents have been seeking around building location, building and site design, and ongoing operation and maintenance of the completed development.

Initial Design Concepts 
Once a builder/operator has been selected, the chosen builder/operator will develop and share some initial design concepts with the neighbourhood. The concept presented will take into account input received on the development scenarios presented at previous Community Conversation events. Feedback received will be used to refine the initial design ideas into a final design concept.

Final Design Concept and Rezoning 
A final development concept will be shared with the community for feedback. A proposal to rezone the site based on the final design concept will then go before Council for a decision. There will be opportunity for residents to share their views with Council when the proposed rezoning goes forward to Public Hearing.

Stay informed about the project by signing up to receive regular email updates. Contact the City at buildinghousingchoices@edmonton.ca

Please refer to our frequently asked questions page and the What We Heard summary from the last community meeting in June 2016.