Subject:

“Urgent: Please Ensure the Ribbon of Green and River Valley Bylaw Increase Protection of the River Valley”

Message:

Dear [councillor name]

I am writing to express my concerns regarding the draft Ribbon of Green Strategic Plan (RoG), and draft River Valley Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP), scheduled to come before the Urban Planning Committee on 17 September 2024.

This river valley has been carefully stewarded since time immemorial by the First Peoples here. After settlers arrived, protection has been inconsistent, even as we have remained dependent upon a healthy river and river valley for our survival and quality of life. After a long period of restoration and deindustrialization in the twentieth century, river valley land is now being lost each year, and what remains is increasingly fragmented and degraded by inappropriate development and use. The river valley is a critical wildlife corridor connecting the Rocky Mountains with Elk Island, the prairies, and beyond – all the way to Hudson’s Bay. We have a responsibility to the entire watershed to protect our part of that corridor, yet currently our city is the main obstacle along its entire course. This needs to be reversed. The river is also our city’s source of water in a rapidly warming and drying world, as well as a major air conditioning system, and it offers Edmontonians a way to connect with nature in the heart of the city even as our city grows. If we are to meet our responsibilities and continue to benefit from all that the river and river valley provide for us, we urgently need to increase protection and restoration of the river valley once again.

The documents coming before you are in need of updating. The RoG first passed in 1992, a little over 30 years ago, and the ARP first passed city council in 1985, nearly 40 years ago. Much has changed in the intervening decades in terms of the climate and biodiversity crisis and our city’s general awareness of Canada’s role in colonization. Updating the new RoG and ARP should mean updating the policies and strategies in light of these significant events and advances in knowledge and awareness since they were first drafted. It should mean increasing protection and restoration of the river valley, and doing so in a way that partners with the Indigenous community and listens to their knowledge of respect for and reciprocity with this land and water and all the beings with who we share them.

The new RoG and ARP as they are currently drafted fall short in this regard. 

One of our main concerns with the draft Ribbon of Green is that it permits mountain biking in preservation areas. This represents a departure from ecologically sound policy and practice for the last 40 years, in which mountain biking is prohibited in preservation areas. We would like to see city council continue to uphold the preservation area policies we have historically implemented on this issue. In sensitive ecologies, which preservation areas were formulated and implemented to protect, mountain biking and trail building results in habitat fragmentation, disruption to bird nesting and animal denning sites, and erosion, as well as enables encroachment of plants the city considers to be invasive non-natives. Mountain biking is sufficiently accommodated in the river valley on city-sanctioned trails in conservation areas.

Meanwhile, our main concern with the current draft River Valley ARP is that it does not include provisions for a clear, fair, and transparent decision-making process for when development applications within the river valley are brought forward – something that was requested in Stage One of engagement, according to the What We Heard Report. The “deemed essential” language, instead of being clarified, was removed from the new draft. The draft does not outline how stakeholders will be informed of development proposals, nor does it stipulate how potential impacts, including cumulative impacts, will be measured and presented to the public to inform decision making. Requirements for when a development proposal is required to go to council for a public hearing are significantly weakened, requiring only the largest projects to be subject to public debate.

We urge you to ask questions of Administration regarding how the current RoG and ARP drafts increase protection of the river valley and provide certainty that Edmontonians will be able to participate in decision making regarding the river valley in the future.

Sincerely,

[your name]