Louise McKinney Riverfront Park Part II - Hiding In Plain Sight & Concluding Remarks (July 3, 2024)
More than can meet the eye!
2.0 Hiding in Plain Sight
2.1.1 History and Culture
The Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition has published an outstanding socio/cultural/ecological history called “A brief history of Edmontons River Valley and Ravine Park System.” It starts with a discussion of our indigenous peoples in the valley, long before settlers and settler colonialism arrived. It follows the early history with more recent activities of the industrialization of the valley after first nations peoples were displaced, through to the creation of the Capital City Recreation Park, and even more recent work to enhance environmental protection of the river valley. This outstanding policy work laid the groundwork for more environmentally focussed protection of the river valley, at a time when the valley is and will be flooded with people, not to mention water (sorry, couldn’t resist). I would encourage you to read the entire summary, by clicking the link below.
https://www.ervcc.com/brief-history-of-nsr
2.2 Climate Change… Man Plans, God Laughs
Climate change will be an enduring reality, an outcome decades in the making, that can and will impact both this site and the entire river valley. The river valley is home to our much revered mature trees and permeable surfaces, that both act to ingest moisture, sequester pollution, reduce urban heat islands, reduce stormwater management costs, etc. As trees mature, the ability of them to survive increases with mature soil and root systems and fauna and flora ecosystems enclosed to some extent by the geomorphology (i.e.e steep grades). Edmonton has had periods of drought that stresses the trees. With or without the stress, urban forests are susceptible to fire. While fire is a normal regenerative process for our forests, our river valley has largely protected from this natural process in order to protect people, property and urban infrastructure. Meanwhile, in recent years forest fires have ravaged the Province, displacing people and wildlife, and destroying forests at rates never seen before. To date this portion of the North Saskatchewan river valley has been spared… for now.
What happens outside the river valley impacts the river valley. Table lands were previously permeable surfaces (i.e., trees, farmlands, wetlands). As urbanization occurs, those permeable surfaces are substantially replaced by impervious surfaces such as roads, buildings, etc. Climate change increases the intensity and frequency of storms. The moisture generated by those storms no longer slowly sinks into the water table and the river valley. Substantial portions of the the moisture are now directed from roof leaders, into storm sewers pipes directed into the river valley, in volumes and intensity never before seen, mitigated only somewhat by storm ponds. These storm events will increase the risk of river valley flooding, loss of our natural heritages, damage or loss of recreational amenities such as trails, bridges, lighting, buildings, signage, park furniture, etc., not to mention loss of indigenous history and culture. Critter and public health and safety is being compromised by both fire and flooding. Densification of the table lands and climate change (i.e., more intense, frequent storm events), could potentially flood Louise McKinney Riverfront Park periodically and may damage the promenade, washroom amenity structure, and the boat dock.
Wildfire equally threatens people, natural heritages and park amenities. For decades we have sought to protect the river valley woodlands. The combination of this protection, periodic drought and wild wind events leaves the river valley natural heritages, wild life, people and property vulnerable. It is possible if not likely that these fires at some point could also spread on to the table lands at huge costs.
2.3 Leisure and Recreation Benefits, Outcomes and Evolution of Needs
The benefits of sites like these meet City Plan goals for a sustainable city addressing social, ecological, individual and community health and wellness, and economic benefits. Public spaces provide places for community to decompress, connect with their neighbours, provide contact with nature, become active, experience health and wellness benefits and outcomes, reduce social intolerances, and build social capital. These benefits are typically not quantified in the same way land value is, have been extensively confirmed in the academic literature, and are part of any plan to create sustainable healthy communities and individuals.
As city populations grow, age and culturally diversify, recreation and leisure similarly evolve, and new recreational and leisure needs emerge. More women are active in sports, particularly in traditionally mens sports (i.e., hockey, soccer). We have seen the growth of electric bikes, scooters and skateboards, potentially creating safety problems for users on multi-use trails. Dog off leash areas have exploded in popularity and are now located across the city and the river valley. Outside of the river valley we see indoor soccer, gymnasium and pickleball spaces are in short supply, while minor hockey registrations are falling. Soccer was once an outdoor activity is now an indoor/ outdoor activity. Community gardens have exploded in numbers and participation.
The public has demanded a shifting of park space landscapes from primarily manicured spaces and fields to include more naturalized spaces and retention of natural areas in new plan areas. Indoor facility amenities have expanded to include fitness facilities, running tracks, steam rooms, saunas, diving tanks, wave pools, lazy rivers in combined ice/aquatic/soccer centres. Cultural groups seek to create places familiar with their or meaningful to their heritage (i.e., Chinese Garden and Shumka Stage). Where once schools were located close to home as “walk to” facilities, we now see programs of choice (i.e., language, sport, culture, pedagogy, etc) where students travel across the city to attend. The public has asked for more access to the river itself for boating, fishing, tubing, etc. There are fewer schools but those that are constructed have much larger footprints. Land to meet the recreation and leisure community expressed needs is in short supply inside and outside the river valley. The point is not that these uses have a home in the river valley per se, but all public lands are being stretched beyond physical capability to meet new and evolving needs. There could be pressure to push some of this into the river valley.
2.4 Social Setting
There are multiple societal stressors impacting us today not unique to Edmonton or Alberta. Wage disparity has grown dramatically since the early 80s concentrating wealth in the hands of the few, and importantly national if not international capital interests, including oil and gas, banks and developers. That wealth has had a growing influence over governance processes and outcomes (i.e., neoliberalism).
Housing affordability has declined substantially since the early 2000s caused by the international financialisation of the housing industry. In recent years, Covid was a major disruptor to the economy, jobs and job security. Dramatic rises in interest rate due to Covid has made home ownership even more unaffordable. Meanwhile, as cities move to aggressively densify development, housing options will mean smaller houses and less private green spaces - less personal and private breathing spaces.
As Edmonton populations have culturally diversified, new immigrants and jewish populations have been targeted by far right groups, fanned by ugly political discourse on social media. LGBTQ2S+ including trans individuals and groups have been attacked, both in social media and on the street. Illicit drug use has lead to increases in addictions and overdoses, made worse by a Provincial political focus on treatment only while simultaneously discouraging interventional practices (i.e., safe consumption sites).
We have also evolved over time from traditional family structures (dad works, mum stays home) into either households headed by single mums or dual income working families with fewer but more programmed children trucked around in climate destroying vehicles. Others despair over the existential threat of climate change, houselessess, fear of the other, or fear of being the other. Negative outcomes of these social realities are evidenced on our streets, parks, transit stations, and are reported in the evening news. Political and social media discourse are making things worse. It is here where recreation, leisure and nature can help address social disorders.
2.5 Governance
2.5.1 River Valley Planning and Practice
The Municipal Development Plan in Edmonton today is City Plan. Like its predecessors, it has multiple well meaning but competing aspirational policy statements dressed up in attractive graphics, including the river valley and parks, as well as trendy words.
The directives are somewhat refined in their parks master plan (Breathe 2016). With respect to the river valley, the City currently has out for public review a new Ribbon of Green (ROG) and North Saskatchewan River Valley Area Plan Bylaw. The previous documents were developed and approved in 1992 and 1985, respectively.
The new documents seek to provide a combined river valley recreational parks plan set in a protected ecological system, areas of which have already been highly disturbed by coal mining, gravel and clay extraction. Over use and careless degradation of ecological heritages and safety of park users is a real concern (i.e., mountain bikers, electric bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc). The new ROG and “modernization” of the bylaw purports to adopt a more stringent ecological approach to on-going use, enjoyment and protection of the river valley, similar to past plans and bylaws. Specific implementation of both is still vague, and dependent on substantially increased funding. The funding discussion will occur at a later date. Moreover all existing approved concept plans have been grandfathered in to the ROG, and the population of the City will double - potentially doubling the number of river valley users. The public engagement approach to review the two documents adopted by the city is hurried and flawed, and absent details about competing needs can be mediated or prioritized. This will be the subject of a stand alone vlog.
2.5.2 Park Planning Parameters and Standards
Since the early 1960s, parks have been planned based on a series of principles or parameters summarized in three categories: systems based; program focussed and, comprehensive construction standards. These principles and parameters are articulated in the parks masters plans of the day, that themselves support the municipal development plan of the day, as well as any and all bylaws and policies.
Land Systems Based. While parks are acquired and planned on a specific site basis, parks are planned on an integrated programmatic systems basis in new area plans, similar to roadways and utilities. The program of a single park is part of a larger park system, which is a collection of multiple overlapping programs meeting a growing diversity of needs. A river valley park system plan must link up and be part of table lands park planning. Yet until the early 70s, no river valley plan existed. Since the early 60s parks and schools have mostly co-located on sites to take advantage of the benefits of each others public assets for shared use (i.e., through the Joint Use Agreement). In recent years the City developed a ecological network strategy and plan to guide future land acquisitions on table lands, to be inform the school and park system plan, all within the 10% municipal reserve entitlements. The systems concept is outlined within in park master plans in sections referred to as either park typologies or park classification system. The classification system is used to identify parks in area plans.
Programmed Based. Parks inside and outside the river valley are planned to be four season, multi-use inclusive spaces including passive and active activities, as well as structured and unstructured activities, in both indoor and outdoor recreation facilities on publicly owned lands. Parks are designed to be four season multi-use site within a broader park system that accommodates all ages, incomes, gender, education, sexuality, cultures, etc. Parks are in fact a system of programs and activities systems dispersed across an urban landscape. In otherwords, area plans include a carefully designed systems of activities and amenities to meet nearby needs (i.e., playgrounds), close to home needs (i.e., field sports, community gardens), short distance drive or bike needs (i.e., recreation centres, community needs) serving multiple nearby neighbourhoods within a district or area plan, and drive to destination sites (i.e., river valley preservation areas). Think market areas for each activity for each type of indoor or outdoor constructed amenity.
Construction Standards. Development of amenities such as trails, washrooms, lighting, shelters, signage, boat launches, park furniture, soils, tree and shrub planting, etc are based on building codes and greenspace standards, articulated in a local construction standards manual. These standards are applied to ensure standard expectations for park users and construction project managers, as well as reduced long term maintenance costs. For example, a construction standards manual would include types of trees acceptable, spacing between trees, inspection requirements, soil depth and quality, etc. Similarly, when a paved trail is planned it is based on a standard width, base requirement, material requirement (asphalt, gravel, etc) and inspection requirements.
Operations/Maintenance. Most public green spaces including parks, road rights of ways and storm ponds except those liscensed to partners are maintained by the City (i.e., grass cutting, playground inspections and repairs, park furniture, hardsurface, lighting repairs, shelters, washrooms, etc and proactive tree maintenance. Maintenance cost projections and actuals take into consideration how maintenance activities are actually performed system wide in order to reduce costs (i.e., larger equipment, routing strategies, specialized/dedicated crews, etc). Natural areas retained have their own ecological assessment and plan to guide tree and other landscape maintenance, specific to the asset retained. Management and maintenance of our ecological heritages require specialized expertise to plan and implement. It is important that accepted assets are consistent with the construction standards manual to reduce long term maintenance costs. Annual maintenance costs over time will exceed the original capital construction costs.
An integrated administrative approach to park recreation, leisure, education, and ecological goods and services delivery that includes cross disciplinary planning, design, construction, programming and maintenance functions relies heavily on processes and relationships to balance or mediate between competing perspectives and needs.
2.5.3 Land Acquisition
The traditional perspectives of indigenous peoples of land that did not contemplate “ownership of land” was forcibly replaced by settler colonial legislation. That evolving legislation created private property regime, with privileged rights for landowners. Existing and future land uses are reviewed and approved my municipal government officials as per provincial planning legislation (i.e., the Municipal Government Act of Alberta, or MGA). These rules apply to both river valley and table lands. Municipal reserves (school and parks) up to 10% of the gross developable area, are taken as land, cash in lieu of land, or deferred reserve caveat, or combination thereof. In addition, lands deemed undevelopable can be taken/dedicated as environmental reserve, at no cost to the municipality. Table land parcels that cascade down into the river valley are often taken as environmental reserve.
River valley lands are most often acquired by environmental reserve taken at the time of subdivision. Other wholly located privately owned river valley lands inside the river valley must be purchased at market value by the municipality. River valley lands are often deemed unstable, subject to flooding, and therefore undevelopable, which means the value of the land is limited, but with enormous social and ecological value. The exchange value of the land is privileged in the MGA.
What you see you see in the river valley is multiple titled parcels, often unconsolidated, owned by multiple individuals, groups and government, acquired in different sizes, shapes and time periods, using different methods (i.e., dedication, purchase). Land developed as public park lands are municipally owned, not all river valley lands are publicly owned, but may look park like. Property lines are not visible, but are key element to understanding what can and cannot do in the river valley. The river itself, including the bed and shore, is provincial and federal government jurisdictions.
Elsewhere in the river valley, on a going forward basis, further expansion of the river valley through purchase or subdivision of privately owned lands has been prioritized and budgeted (approx $10M) by the City to be acquired through subdivision, opportunity purchase and/or direct contact with private landowners. This can be a bit of an iterative process that takes time. Remember river valley land acquisitions began over 100 years ago. The $10M will be inadequate as more than 100 properties have yet to be acquired in the river valley.
2.5.4 Co-Production of Place with Civil Society Partners
Planning legislation in Alberta does not accommodate park development of any kind, unless by a special agreement. Transforming “spaces” created in land use change processes into “places” are a multitude of deliberate acts that rely heavily on civil society.
The River Valley Alliance has partnered with the CIty, Provincial and Federal Governments to fund and develop the Louise MacKinney Promenade and the nearby Funicular. The Chinese Garden, Shumka Stage where developed with separate partnerships between the City, the Shumka Ukrainian Dancers and the Chinese Community to fund and develop the Shumka Stage and Chinese Garden.
Parks and park services are unlike any other municipal service. The public is not required nor even permitted to police your neighbourhood, fight fires, clean out catch basins, manage traffic, etc. Moreover, beyond taxes, the community is not asked to fund raise for repairs or replacements to roads, utilities, etc. Park development beyond base level services must fund raise to build playgrounds, lighting, community gardens, outdoor skating rinks, not to mention helping to manage dog off leash areas, run festivals, etc. I have called this kinetic public engagement, beyond providing advise or perspectives. Below is a deeper dive about how the Louise McKinney Riverfront Park was co-produced.
Elsewhere in the river valley, there are multiple other groups that partner with the city to provide amenities and programming with the city, including Nordic cross-country ski club in Gold Bar Park, the Edmonton Federation of Community League Plaza in Hawrelak Park, the Edmonton and Snow Valley Ski Clubs, the Folk Music Festival in Gallagher Park, the Edmonton Dragon Boat Racing club, the Edmonton Rowing Club at Buena Vista Park, etc. There are too many to list. All of these groups have extensive lists of volunteers also helping to fund improvements and program the site at substantially reduced cost to the City. All of these organizations are part of what I call the Edmonton parks institution - like interested state and non-state actors collectively contributing to the livability of the City.
2.5.5 Proposed National Urban Park
Since 2021, the City of Edmonton has been in discussion with project partners including Parks Canada, the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations, the Otipemisiwak Métis Government (formerly the Métis Nation of Alberta), and the Government of Alberta (in an observer role) about the potential for establishing a national urban park in the Edmonton region.
The National Urban Park Initiative is expected to be a multi-phase, multi-year project, with opportunities for public and stakeholder engagement at all stages. Project partners are discussing what a national urban park could look like, but no decisions have been made to designate a national urban park at this time. This process may or may not include or impact this park, but it could.
Unilateral changes to Provincial government policy and legislation now requires the Province to “approve” any cost shared funding arrangements with the Federal Government. This unnecessary political initiative has effectively stalled the initiative for the time being, but there are efforts to re-invigorate it.
Concluding Remarks
What you see when you visit the Louise McKinney Park is a snap shot in time, in a specific season, and time of day. It is a beautiful landscape with a rich, not always positive history, incredible future, and amazing views of the North Saskatchewan River and River Valley, with both manicured and naturalized landscapes, that also celebrates our cultural history. Today It is a multi-use multi-functional park sited within a city wide, regional and national park and trail system developed over multiple decades with multiple state and non-state actors/institutions. It has spaces for active and passive activities, serviced by washrooms and low scale complementary ancillary commercial activity. The park amenities were built as per approved park master plans and strategic direction, providing economic, social and health and wellness benefits built with and for the community. Approvals followed all detailed environmental and geotechnical studies to limit damage to the valley, and included public hearings. It was built to meet city construction standards. Most importantly, an active community connected to nature and other community members will partially help address social disorders (i.e., green prescriptions).
The site is also representative of tensions or contestations in the river valley, similar to what we see outside the river valley (i.e., table lands). The park amenities and programming would not be possible without participation of civil society (i.e., RVA, Ukrainian and Chinese communities), as well as the provincial and federal government funding partners. (Those were the days…lol). The invisible actions of these groups is enormous, time consuming, access to their own network of people, and requires a level of trust between state and non-state actors. The development itself privileges recreational and economic outcomes rather than protection of ecological benefits (i.e., disruption of the wild life corridor). Drawing more users into the river valley may have a detrimental effect on ecological protection of the entire river valley. These competing needs and tensions issue highlight what may be the challenges in implementing the ROG and Bylaw that seeks to provide greater protection of ecological heritages in the river valley.
The site as a previous coal mine is a disturbed landscape repurposed for public uses, which is common in the river valley. However, the river valley edge location makes portions of the site super attractive to economic interests. The City agreed to sell a portion of the site cascading down the side of the valley wall into a mixed use 80 floor residential tower with commercial on the lower levels. The new tower would then take away river valley views along this stretch of roadway, much like the addition to the convention centre did previously.
Existential threats to our most vulnerable populations are already resident on site in the form of homeless encampments and drug use. More broadly, we face an existential threat caused by climate change impacts of wildfire and extreme weather events are being made worse by the City’s approach to densification of housing strategy. The city housing strategy replaces permeable surfaces on private lands with multi-family buildings that will cause intensified flows into the storm sewer system viciously spilling into the river valley., while arguably not addressing the root causes of housing affordability. Moreover, the City is selling off table land public park lands for housing, to make the loss of permeable surfaces problem even worse and create even more serious urban heat islands. What happens on the table lands… does not stay in the table lands.
Thanks, what a great overview. Accommodating all perspectives always seems to be a mistake. Instead people should come together to learn about the valley and what it could offer in times of the cultural, economic, biodiversity and climate challenges we face. Then we should all work together to responsibly manage and learn from the valley. If we do that we would not make the same mistakes. Mistakes like expensive to maintain and light polluting globe street lights near the water. Or expensive and carbon intensive cement outlooks in flood plains. Our valley is a gift we are squandering. Thanks again for an excellent overview. So appreciated.