It’s a fact of Canadian neighborhood life! From Vancouver and Ottawa to Edmonton, Toronto, Calgary and beyond… infills. The idea is straightforward. Infill is a classification of construction in an established residential area when a new house is built on an older lot and the previous residence is torn down to accommodate it. The old lot is “infilled” with the new house.
It wasn’t so long ago that Edmonton infills were a contentious issue.
Today, Edmonton infills are a popular trend and changing the housing profile, particularly in downtown Edmonton. Infill concept boosters, including urban planners, builders, developers and the City – which passed the Edmonton Zoning Bylaw 20001 this January – underscore the value of infills for revitalizing aging Edmonton neighbourhoods, smarter management of services like roads and public transit, saving schools and sparking new community life with retail shops, restaurants and services.
On the flip side, some infill detractors have concerns about affordability and home prices, and how new infill designs may impact established Edmonton neighborhood properties.
Chelsey Jersak is professionally positive about Edmonton infills. She is the dynamic founder and principal of Situate, the Edmonton-based boutique firm specializing in rezoning, permitting, subdivision and project coordination for local projects, and also the president of IDEA (the Infill Development in Edmonton Association), a non-profit organization made up of passionate Edmontonians working together to drive change towards people-centered communities.
“Infill development in Edmonton is a positive with many upsides,” she points out. “While infill development is sometimes considered contentious, it is actually a solution to a significant Edmonton problem. Many people don’t realize it, but most of our mature neighbourhoods have fewer people now than they did in the 1970s. In many neighbourhoods, populations have decreased over the years as household sizes have shrunk and children have grown up and moved away. Infill is a vital process of neighbourhood renovation and renewal, helping communities stay vibrant and healthy in the long term.
“Infill also makes financial sense for the city. It helps make better use of our existing roads and utilities, not to mention infrastructure like schools. Using existing infrastructure is cheaper than maintaining new roads and utilities in suburban areas. This saves the city money, which can be used to improve services instead of having to raise taxes.”
The City’s Christian Lee, senior planner with Edmonton’s Zoning Bylaw Unit, underscores the value and importance of Edmonton’s infills. He cites the logic and bottom line that, “A community is more, much more, than streets, buildings and houses. It is people! Communities are predicated on people.”
He cites reams of stats and numbers to show that many neighborhoods have lost population. Schools, businesses and community rec centres are shutting down. Edmonton, like most major Canadian markets, has a surge in demand for rentals, and there is a trend of people moving outside of the city to find the types of housing they and their modern families want and need.
“It is conclusive,” Lee says. “The data shows that infill is good for Edmonton.”
Often, retrofitting a traditional home, including features like energy efficient and net-zero technologies, can be expensive and complicated, costly and cumbersome. By all indications, lot price is an infill positive. Depending on location, infill lot prices are significantly lower than new build lot prices and it is a housing plus that infill lots in older communities tend to be significantly larger than new build lots.
A big positive is an established neighborhood. No guesswork about the area. The infrastructure is already in place. There is no dragged-out waiting period for development and relying on construction timelines for essential services such as roads, shopping and schools.
“The pros of infill definitely include the allure of living close to amenities in established, vibrant and diverse neighborhoods surrounded by mature trees,” explains Les Wold, general manager of Effect Home Builders.
“Infill offers the opportunity for unique and interesting design and reduced cost for expanding civic services. Edmonton’s new zoning bylaw allows for substantial increases in density and lower costs. Along with all the benefits of living in a mature neighbourhood, the cost remains a big consideration.”
Developers mention the caution that some infill lots may be a space challenge for construction, especially for excavation. Also, the details about lot history come into play. Issues with the soil? Is it on a floodplain? One downside is that, while the infill house may be new, the area is not. Aspects like sewage and water pipes, roads and sidewalks are usually old and potential risks.
There is positivity about Edmonton’s new zoning bylaw, partially because it has been a work in progress for more than 10 years. The numbers underscore that, aside from the usual complicated clauses and specs, the new Edmonton bylaw has triggered significant zoning changes. A key feature is allowing infill housing on any residential lot in Edmonton. It also minimizes permits and other complicated and time-consuming official red tape for developers.
By reducing the need for rezonings, the bylaw also encourages other aspects of neighborhood life, like restaurants, coffee shops, retail stores and services.
“The new zoning bylaw has opened up new development opportunities. The permit process is becoming faster, easier and simpler to understand. We think that the city is making strides to make the infill process easier,” Wold adds.
“Infill isn’t entirely new for Edmonton. It has become more popular recently, mostly because the city has made policy changes to make infill of all shapes and sizes easier to build,” Jersak explains. “Although it’s a bit of a stereotype, many people think of infill as skinny houses squeezed onto a lot. It is not! Infill is any form of urban redevelopment and can include secondary suites, garden suites, duplexes, semi-detached and detached houses, row houses, apartments, other residential and mixed-use buildings and even commercial development.
“Infill variety is important to meet the different housing and business needs of a growing population, as well as helping people downsize within their own neighbourhood, without having to move elsewhere.”
Wold notes that, “Most effect projects have some level of customization from what can be found on the market with features like efficiency upgrades (including net zero homes), accessibility considerations and more personalized styles. We see a lot of bungalow requests, and we are seeing more interest in multi-family as a way to combat increasing costs.”
Mauricio Ochoa, founder and CEO of Edmonton’s FCX Development, is a gung-ho booster of Edmonton infills. “The new zoning bylaw has significantly reduced red tape, allowing us to fit up to eight units on interior lots and even more on corner lots, depending on size. This is crucial as we focus on the missing middle, so the more units per lot, the better.
“It is a fact that increased density addresses affordability by increasing housing supply. One downside is that lots can be more expensive due to high development demand, and corner lots have become particularly scarce.”
Ochoa notes that with infills, as with most residential real estate, location-location is critical.
“It’s so important, to be near future LRT stations, bike lanes and accessible routes as well close to neighborhood amenities.”
According to Katie Warwa, partner, lead of design and operations at Urbis Infill Homes, “The support of programs and incentives from the federal government have triggered an Edmonton trend of more row housing, six and eight plexes, initially on corner lots. With Edmonton’s new zoning bylaw, we may see more gentle density and creative housing types midblock.”
She adds a unique aspect of infill costs. “It is important to anticipate unforeseen costs that are beyond the cost to build the new housing. There can be infill soft costs related to abatement and demolition, and some infrastructure costs like upgrading sewer, power and water services.”
The experts agree. Edmonton’s proactive approach to infills is great potential for Edmonton housing – it is only an exciting start.
“The city has a goal that 50 per cent of new homes should be in mature neighborhoods,” Jersak emphasizes, “but last year we only hit 30 per cent. There is a lot of work to do. Now is the perfect time to focus on infill to meet the targets and accommodate Edmonton’s growing population.”