Edmonton is moving forward with new landscaping rules for single-family infill developments, requiring at least one tree and four bushes per lot. Builders will need to provide a deposit to guarantee planting, or risk losing the funds with the city stepping in to do the work if landscaping is not completed within 12 to 18 months.
City council passes amendments
City council approved amendments to the zoning bylaw on Tuesday to implement small-scale residential landscape securities. The rules aim to counteract the loss of tree canopy in established neighborhoods, where infill development often involves clear-cutting lots.
Joan Hardstaff of the residential infill working group noted that a similar process already exists for small-scale multi-unit cluster housing, non-residential and rural housing. The city also requires landscape plans for new green-field development single detached and semi-detached, and duplexes.
Low compliance rates
A 2023 city survey of low-density residential infill found only 11 percent complied with minimum landscaping requirements. Hardstaff highlighted benefits such as improved health, flood risk reduction, and lower carbon emissions.
“What we’re seeing is clear cutting of lots. Some of these lots have 40 to 50 percent cover of canopy, and even with the minimum planting requirements, we’re maybe only replacing five percent or less of the tree canopy, because they’re planting very small trees,” she said.
Hardstaff cited University of Alberta research linking loss of tree canopy and vegetation cover to development. “This is leading to significant impact to increase surface temperature and urban heat island effect, and we don’t want to see the city lose any more opportunities to maintain and increase tree canopy,” she added.
Establishment period concerns
A horticulturist with landscaping experience, Hardstaff emphasized the need for a longer documentation trail to ensure plantings survive. “I want to make sure that we don’t incentivize installation compliance, and then remove incentives to maintain the landscaping until it becomes established and healthy. It takes between three and five years for landscaping to become established,” she said.
The requirement is expected to cost in the low thousands on each property.
Developer pushback
Gary Hoeft of Cantiro Homes, speaking for BILD Edmonton Metro, asked council to let developers handle the issue. He warned that tying up capital could hurt infill development, which the city seeks to densify and maximize its tax base.
“Most likely there’s going to be a doubling up of funds there, and some of that could be potentially tied up for years. We don’t want to add more administrative burden to this, so just within our own company alone, doing approximately 400 houses, we’re going to add an unnecessary burden with just administrative responsibility to try to manage all these deposits, where we have some of these systems already in place,” Hoeft said.
