City council delays Quarters tower decision for two months

A controversial land deal for an 80-storey hotel and condominium along Jasper Avenue has been delayed for60 days bycity council.

AlldrittGroup, the developers behindthe Quarters Hotel and Residences,wantto buy a parcel of publicly-owned river valley land for part of theproject.

But first, Mayor DonIveson and councilwantto ensure the city can get the land back in the event the project doesn't go ahead.

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"If this all comes together, the city would get a landmark building, with a really innovative approach to partnership around a park with permanent public access," Iveson said after a private council meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

"If it doesn't come together, the city needs to be able to cost-effectively go back to plan A and...not be on the hook for any more than the city would have been on the hook for prior to zoning, which can impact the value of land."

I think we can get there, I'm optimistic. It's just complicated.- Don Iveson, Mayor

Iveson said there are also third parties involved in the negotiations, and that is making the deal trickier.

"I think we can get there, I'm optimistic," he said. "It's just complicated."

Council voted unanimously to give Alldrittup to 60 days to come back with a revisedproposal.

A public hearing scheduled forWednesday that was meant to look into changing bylaws to allow the development to take place will be postponed.

Housing First strategy up for discussion

Council also discussed its permanent housing strategy on Tuesday.

The city has built less than one-third of the supportive housing units it had called for in its 2007 plan to end homelessness.

Mayor DonIvesonsaid the city hasdone a good job in its Housing First strategy to house homeless people, but has struggled to find housing for chronic and long term homelessness.

He called on the province and the federal government to help the city out.

"We're way short of where we need to be, even though we know that that is cheaper than jail, that is cheaper than hospitals, that is cheaper than policing,"Ivesonsaid.

"So there is an investment case which we will continue to make, and I'm hopeful that we'll see some action in these provincial and federal budgets to invest in that housing so we can get to our goal."

Coun. ScottMcKeensaid the city needs a clearer strategy to solve the problem.

He said people are "living like refugees" in our city.

"We keep chasing our tails even though we know there are models out there that work, like Ambrose Place," he said.

Turning gravel into green

City council also voted Tuesday to start the expropriation process to acquire enough land for a new park downtown.

The Warehouse Campus Neighbourhood Central Park would be located on what are currently several surface parking lots between Jasper Avenue and102ndAvenue, on106thand107thStreet.

The city is hoping a large park will attract more families downtown and improve quality of life for people already living there.

Plans for the park could include a playground and an area for dog lovers. City planners said there would also be room for restaurants and the park could attract some festivals to the area.

The park would be slightly bigger than Sir Winston Churchill Square.

Asbestos in city buildings

Coun. DaveLokenput forward a motion Tuesday for city staff to report back on any city-owned buildings that contain asbestos.

"It is a health and safety issue we should all be concerned about," he said. "As a city, we could be a leader here."

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Loken pointed to the city of Saskatoon, which already has a process of making an inventory of buildings that contain asbestos.

He wants to see if Edmontoncan come up with something similar that could ultimately lead to the creation of a public list of buildings containing asbestos.

Coun. Ben Henderson said the city needs to know which building contain asbestos, particularly when it comes to retrofitting city buildings.

City council unanimously passed Loken's motion.