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Community leaders in the Alberta Avenue area are breathing a sigh of relief after Edmonton city council decided to get tough on derelict business properties.
“We had been told 21 years ago it wasn’t possible and we actually know now it is possible,” said Christy Morin, executive director for Arts on the Ave.
Morin had been advocating for run-down properties to be dealt with, in the hopes new developments are built in their place.
Derelict properties attract crime and increase the change of severe safety risks like fires, she added.
“When I look at these buildings, I actually feel really sad,” Morin said on Friday, pointing to a half-dozen boarded up businesses sitting vacant along a single block of 111th Avenue, between 93 and 94 Street.
On Thursday, a city committee meeting unanimously passed a motion by Ward Métis Councillor Ashley Salvador.
It advised administration to “develop a non-residential derelict tax subclass,” and to “bring forward a report with options for a vacant non-residential subclass to address vacancy of developable properties.”
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Property owners could see assessment notices for their derelict businesses go out as soon as two years from now, giving them time to figure out what to do with the buildings.
“Two years is a flash in the pan,” said Morin. “We’ve been doing this for 21 years and others than have gone before us have been trying earlier, so this is one link in the armour that we really, really needed.”
Allan Bolstad, civics director for the Alberta Avenue Community League, said the current residential derelict tax has helped in re-development of rundown homes.
“There’s some owners that have taken the steps to either fix their places up or knock them down,” Bolstad said.
“The city’s come in and boarded up all sorts of houses that have been identified as problem properties, vacant properties.
“That’s helped clean things up.”
Bolstad wants the city to take a more aggressive approach in dealing with derelict properties. He said the tax subclass will certainly help get the ball rolling.
“That’s really held the neighbourhood back and we’d like to see that change.”
As for the future of the area, Morin is excited at the possibilities a revitalized area could bring.
“Just that real connectivity of commercial and community and arts in the creative industries.”
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