Thursday’s letters: New zoning bylaw blindsides neighbours

Re. “Edmonton’s housing success is no accident,” Opinion, March 4

It is most unfortunate, but not surprising, that this op-ed piece only tells part of the story. Authored by a senior city official and the chair of Edmonton’s real estate industry advocacy organization, the piece is self-congratulatory and, frankly, does a disservice to those looking for a balanced story.

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What’s missing is any commentary on the real downside impact of the new zoning bylaw on neighbourhoods in all parts of the city. While our city leaders may believe that allowing at least eight residences on a typical city lot is a leading city-planning practice, many people who live in these neighbourhoods believe otherwise.

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No other city in Canada has gone to that extreme. Neighbourhoods have been blindsided. I look forward to a follow-up op-ed piece that tells the whole story

R.H. Smyth, Edmonton

Roxy Theatre ruling not surprising

Re. “Theatre denied easement needed for exterior work,” March 4

As a retired instructor on the law of property, I was delighted to see the word “easement” in the headline in the March 4 edition of the Journal. How rare.

The story recites that the Roxy Theatre was denied access to the roof of an adjacent property to complete an external wall of the Roxy building. It claimed an entitlement called an easement of necessity. I wish the Roxy well, but the claim for such an easement was almost certainly doomed to fail. Among other factors, the relevant date to determine if an easement of necessity arises is at the time of the transfer of the land to whomever first acquired the Roxy parcel, way back when. One needs to know the circumstances at that much-earlier date.

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That aside, I hope the owner of the adjacent property (CSIC) has a rational reason for ostensibly acting like such a poor neighbour, especially since the Roxy is a non-profit, trying, with limited resources, to support live theatre.

Bruce Ziff, Edmonton

Lame-duck PM flying too much

Has anyone noticed the massive carbon footprint that our lame-duck PM has racked up on his taxpayer-funded Airbus since announcing his resignation? There was his Paris holiday to attend an AI conference (I won’t say anything about the hilarious irony of Trudeau attending a conference on intelligence, artificial or otherwise).

Then there was his trip to Kyiv. Certainly, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a crisis, but more so to Europe than Canada. Well, 11 countries including Poland, U.K., Germany, attended by video. And now we have Trudeau going to the U.K. to bid farewell to our figurehead ruler King Charles. A phone call wouldn’t have sufficed? I guess a “climate emergency” doesn’t matter when there’s a chance for a photo-op with foreign leaders.

Ron Nichol, Sherwood Park

Letters welcome

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