Our Beloved Hillside

Council passed an Area Revitalization Plan (ARP) for the Hillside neighbourhood today. There’s been some misinformation and half truths shared about the plan, so I thought I’d give little more context here as well as my reason for voting in favour.

First off, take a read of the plan yourself here. You can find out about the development of the plan here.

Over the last several years, there has been an interest from our homebuilding community in tearing down old homes in Hillside and replacing them with new developments, particularly multi-family units like duplexes and three-plexes. As the number of these units started to proliferate, Council thought it would be wise to put a pause on these developments and create a plan to better guide the future development of this community.

Hillside is a bit of an odd duck (my apologies Hillsiders!). When the neighbourhood was zoned decades ago, most of it was zoned “RT” or “Residential Transition” which allows for more multi-unit buildings than “RG” or “Residential General” zoning. One of the main discussions during the ARP process was whether we should change the zoning to block all multi-family from being built or just put greater controls on how and where it’s built.

There was quite a bit of interest from the community in creating the ARP. I attended the first open house where I was surprised to see the Hillside school gym filled by local residents. Residents were told there was going to be a steering committee formed to guide the plan. Eight residents signed up to be on the committee and for the next year volunteered countless hours as they worked with the Planning department to create the plan.

Throughout the year, there were several open houses planned to give updates and receive more feedback on the plan. Last month Council was presented with the plan that struck a balance between allowing some multi-family in certain locations, putting greater design and parking standards on new developments, and prioritizing areas for infrastructure investments.

The plan also did address areas of concern such as park and trail redevelopments, hospital parking, and giving Hillside a more visible identity. However, most of the disagreements hinged on the character of the neighbourhood and what to do about multi-family developments.

Why did I support the plan?

I felt that the steering committee (¾ composed of residents) did an excellent job of balancing competing interests. On the one hand, the plan identified certain areas that would be more ideal for multi-family developments (such as along 100 Ave) and put the most stringent design standards on new multi-family developments in the city. On the other hand, the committee recognized that there is a need for reinvestment so that old derelict homes are torn down and that the area doesn’t become even more of a haven for squatters and illicit activity.

Why not only rezone for single-family homes then?

The reality is that there was nothing stopping residents from tearing down houses and replacing them with new single-family homes. But we just weren’t seeing this type of reinvestment. If we were to completely not allow any multi-family, I don’t see how this would have changed the situation. I believe Council would have stifled reinvestment for many years to come and we would have seen the number of derelict properties continue to grow. This plan will ensure that there is an appropriate mix of single and multi-family housing and that any development coming forward will meet the highest design standards in the city.

What about the petition?

There was a petition circulated that had 130 of Hillside’s 2,500 residents opposed to the plan. Several of them came to speak to Council. I understand their frustration. Prior zoning allowed developments to occur haphazardly without any coordinated plan and that produced some questionable results. So I get why there would be fear of the ARP.

But the plan also found a lot support. It was fully endorsed by the steering committee who worked on it for a year. I also received many messages of support from residents who were pleased that Council is addressing many of the issues they have seen in their community.

As a City Councillor, I have to weigh all these competing interests and make a decision based on what I believe will be best for the City now and in decades to come. Hillside has such an important place in Grande Prairie’s history and I believe this plan will help ensure Hillside attracts a balance of reinvestment that all residents can be proud of in years to come.

Frustrations With the Eastlink Centre

Over the last week I've received a great deal of feedback on the scheduling changes for the aquatic area of the Eastlink Centre. As a user of this facility with my wife and son, we have also been negatively impacted by these changes.  The community is frustrated and rightfully so.

So why the reason for these changes?

By now, most people have heard that there has been a shortage of lifeguards at the Centre. Between sickness and resignations, it has been difficult to have the proper compliment of staff required at all times under the previous model.

This model of "spontaneous use" meant that most areas of the Centre were open and available for public use on a drop in basis for most of the day. This created quite a bit of flexibility for users.  However, this model can be challenging for staffing requirements, particularly when there is a staffing shortage.

Pools have strict requirements for the number of lifeguards required to be on duty based on type of amenities, pool depth, sightlines, number of users in pool, etc. With a spontaneous use policy that has all the aquatics areas open, a minimum number of lifeguards is required, no matter the number of users in the facility. As more users enter the pool, more lifeguards are needed.

This creates a challenge when you are in a position of having limited staff. Areas have to be shut down to reflect available staffing levels. This was really frustrating for people accessing the pool, because you would show up and some areas would be open, some wouldn't. Sometimes you would be turned away because the pool was at capacity based on the number of lifeguards available.

The uncertainty this caused was a huge headache for users. This uncertainty was somewhat mitigated with the incessant stream of updates on social media. However, I think this frustrated users even more.

So why the change?

To address this uncertainty, it was decided to move away from a spontaneous use policy to more of a programmed schedule like the Leisure Centre used to have. This would allow Eastlink Centre staff to direct the limited staff resources more efficiently. This would also give users more certainty that when you show up for public swim, you won't be turned away.

As more lifeguards are trained and hired and staffing levels normalize, this policy change will be reviewed. This is a temporary change to address an unfortunate situation.

But how did we get in this position in the first place?

Eastlink Centre in crisis again. Seen that headline a few times in the last few years.

I don't want to play the blame game about how and why we found ourselves in this situation. As a City Councillor, it is one of my responsibilities to hold our City Administration (through our City Manager) to account for how they respond to a crisis and to evaluate their response from a community perspective.

Our new City Manager and Senior Administration have made righting the Eastlink Centre ship a top priority and have directed much time and resources into creating this temporary fix.  More importantly, they are working on addressing the longer term structural issues that have given rise to a number of issues at Eastlink Centre.

To that end, there are significant steps being made in the training and recruitment of lifeguards. There is also going to be a larger role for shallow water attendants who can patrol certain areas of the facility. Going forward, a nation-wide search for a top calibre General Manager has commenced.

The Eastlink Centre is one of the  premier attractions and rec facilities in Northwestern Alberta. I often hear from out-of-towners how lucky we are to have such an incredible facility. This is why it has been a Council priority to make sure this multi-million dollar investment is delivering the service residents and user groups expect.

I greatly appreciate all the feedback I've gotten from residents on this topic and I encourage you to keep Council and Eastlink Centre staff informed on what your expectations of the facility are.