Letter: Glenora Needs to Accept that Density is Good for Them

Re: “Glenora’s Groundhog Day”

Here’s the issue I have with Edmonton’s neighbourhood density. There isn’t enough of it and because of that, property taxes have to go up every year. Let me explain urban design vs. municipal tax burdens.

The city is tasked to build, maintain and replace infrastructure in every neighbourhood, that’s what we pay it for. It installs the water mains, the sewers, the roads connect everything up to each property individually, and then maintain/replace all of it. It has to do that regardless of what type of housing is present and that property pays taxes to cover said work. One single-family home contributes one property tax payment to cover the above mentioned infrastructure connected to the home.

Now, consider if there were a three-storey building on the same lot… (fun fact: that’s what is being proposed in the development poster shown on your “Glenora’s Groundhog Day” article — a three-storey building, not a “high-rise that belongs downtown” one reader was whining about…)

OK, back to my point – as seen on that development poster, this three-storey building is going to take up 60 per cent of three lots that were formerly three single-family homes (or three property tax payments). A building of that size could reasonably accommodate 24 units in it (I live in a three-storey condo in Old Strath that replaced three single family homes 40 years ago). So that means this one building will be contributing 24 property tax payments to the city. Broken down by lot, it’s contributing eight times more to the city than what was previously there… Are ya getting it yet? Light density like this, spread evenly across the city, distributes our shared tax burden (as residents of the city) across more residents meaning (and here’s the part you’ll really like) the city wouldn’t have to raise property taxes every year because there’d be more of paying into it! Yay! Win-Win! Isn’t civil society grand!

I get it, we all want our slice of the Canadian dream — a white picket fence, a pet beaver, a backyard rink and a maple tree that never stops dripping syrup. But, for a city to be profitable, we can’t have everyone in single-family homes. Does a single-family home annual tax bill fully cover the costs of the construction, installation, or even maintenance of just the water and sewer connections to that home? Add in the road construction, repairs and seasonal maintenance so we can all drive our cars everywhere. I know facts hurt, but neighbourhoods of only single-family homes contribute less to the city coffers than it costs the city to maintain those neighbourhoods. The city has a very informative page on its website that discusses this – the more units contributing in your neighbourhood, the lower your municipal property taxes.

I understand that not everyone wants to live in a condo, I get it. We either have to start densifying neighbourhoods so they all contribute to the city’s tax base, or we have to suck it up when the city raises property tax on us every year. Those really are the only two options. A neighbourhood whining because there’s urban development happening in an urban area just rings of a bunch of entitled brats who consider housing to be an investment instead of a necessity for life. It’s as though the complainants have zero consideration for what it takes to run the very city they live in. As Queen Elizabeth II once said to her devoted husband “Oh, Phillip, do shut up, I’m tired of hearing you!” I’m devoted to this city and the people in it. We’re in this together (that’s part of living in a city) and we can do this, Edmonton! We can have a self-sustaining city without annual tax hikes! We can learn to drive and stop derailing the LRT! We can win the Stanley Cup… well that last one is not exactly up to us (Go Oilers!) But the rest of it may mean we have to be YIMBYs — yes in my back yard. What do you want — to suck-it-up to: missing-middle density or annual property tax hikes? I know what I choose.

Folks don’t have to like what I’ve said here but I’m not the only one saying it:

Here are some articles: Strong Towns, Brown Political Review, The Atlantic.

And some videos: DW, City Nerd, Not Just Bikes, Eco Gecko

The more you know, right?

Jon Mackereth,
Edmonton