MUNICIPAL EXCELLENCE NETWORK

PRACTICE COLLECTION FORM General Information

Date May 2015

Name of Practice Evolving Infill

Name of Municipality City of Edmonton

Your Name and Title Yvonne Pronovost, Planner

Phone Number 780-496-4708

Fax Number 780-401-7061

E-mail for Practice Contact(s) Yvonne.pronovost@edmonton.ca

Mailing Address 8th Floor, HSBC Bank Place 10250 101 Street NW

Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3P4

INTRODUCTION When completing this form, use your own words and share your practice in a story format. Please do not include any derogatory comments. Use paragraphs and bullet points to organize your practice. This is not a business case but instead is intended to be informative for your peers, showing them the processes and outcomes of your practice. Be sure to focus on what you learned so that it is helpful to the reader. Click in the white boxes to type in your answers. The boxes will expand as you type.

Abstract: What is the practice you developed or are developing (brief abstract)? Please briefly describe the final practice developed. (e.g. if you developed a new Council agenda, list the agenda items, or if a new communications plan was created, provide a summary of the plan’s goals, objectives and highlights.) Evolving Infill had five goals:

• To spark a conversation, • To build trust and knowledge, • Identify priorities, • Enable infill housing opportunities, and • Establish commitment and shared expectations.

The project resulted in Edmonton’s Infill Roadmap, a two year workplan for the City of Edmonton and its partners that identifies 23 actions aimed at supporting more and better

residential infill in our mature and established neighbourhoods. It has also sparked a conversation about residential infill, redevelopment and city growth that continues to this day.

Need: Please describe (just a couple of sentences or bullet points) why you needed to create this practice (policy or process). What issue made it necessary? (e.g. “We needed a comprehensive plan to deal with…”, or “We needed an annual forecasting tool because…”) There are over 200 mature and established neighbourhoods in Edmonton, and many are experiencing the push and pull of multiple forces of change – an older demographic, population decline, market conditions, public priorities and ageing buildings. It is critical that we support their evolution, leverage existing assets and infrastructure, and enable reinvestment in housing to build and maintain community vibrancy. City growth between new communities, the downtown core, and our mature and established neighbourhoods was not balanced. Direction in our Municipal Development Plan set a target of 25% of new housing for mature and established neighbourbhoods, and we had made changes to the Zoning Bylaw and produced a set of Residential Infill Guidelines to provide guidance for new infill development, but it was not enough to meet this target. Additionally, it became apparent that our approach to supporting infill was uncoordinated and piecemeal. Within a broader, city-wide context, it also became apparent that we needed start talking frankly and openly about growth, change and redevelopment in our city. Change was already happening in our city, and we needed to get ahead of it and start having those difficult conversations if we were to grow sustainably.

CREATING YOUR PRACTICE

Research: How did you obtain information to help design your practice (including consultation with stakeholders, formal and informal research)? Please include any research documentation you can share, or give us a source reference (e.g. Web site, literature, “We reviewed the bylaws from other municipalities in the area…”). Staff conducted a review of best practices related to residential infill in North America, and supplemented this with a series of interviews with over 40 internal and external stakeholders, including key colleagues from Urban Planning and Environment and Current Planning, as well as the current Mayor and all of City Council. It quickly became apparent that Edmonton needed a coordinated workplan to support residential infill in order to proactively and openly respond to these circumstances and improve the environment for infill in our city. It was also clear that in order to be successful, Evolving Infill

needed great deal of collaboration, trust and buy-in from both the policy unit leading the project, and Current Planning, who would likely be responsible for much of the implementation. Process: How did you go about designing your practice? For instance, did you create a team, hire a consultant, or borrow something ready-made from another jurisdiction? Describe briefly who did the design work and what process they followed. The design or Evolving Infill was guided by 8 key principles:

• Infill is an opportunity, • Change will happen – with or without us, • Diverse perspectives are necessary and welcome, • Mutual learning is key, • There is no one problem, there is no one solution, • Be open-minded to all possibilities, • Communicate simply and honestly, and • This is about city-building.

Evolving Infill was framed as a conversation between residents, builders and the City. This was a new approach that was intended to build a shared understanding about infill in Edmonton and identify what we can do to collectively make choices that support the evolution of established neighbourhoods through infill development. There was an additional assumption that new methods of engaging and communicating with Edmontonians were needed to tackle the complexity of infill and neighbourhood change. We approached this conversation humbly and frankly, and communicated openly that change in our mature and established neighbourhoods can be difficult and unpleasant, but that it is needed in order to grow responsibly and sustainably as a city. Trade-offs are necessary as we move toward becoming a city of one million people within the next ten years. The overall three-step Evolving Infill process was designed by the planners leading the program.

In Step 1, the planners hired a communications and engagement consultant to help design a communications and engagement plan to spark and manage and ongoing infill conversation, as well as design and facilitate the tools, resources and events needed to support a robust and meaningful conversation. The conversation was based on storytelling, as validating stories as a way to gather and share information allowed more “experts” at the table, as well as helped build empathy and understanding between participants. Step 2 was also supported by a second consultant who specialized in workshop facilitation and design thinking processes. The five workshops undertaken by the Infill Collaborative were based on a design thinking approach. Step 3 was designed and facilitated by the planners leading the project.

GETTING APPROVAL FOR YOUR PRACTICE

Authority: Whose/what approval did you need to create and implement the practice? Evolving Infill was a joint initiative between Urban Planning and Environment and Current Planning branches of Sustainable Development in the City of Edmonton. It was functionally managed from within the Urban Planning and Environment branch with consistent support from

key partners in Current Planning. Evolving Infill was supported by other business areas within the Administration with expertise in redevelopment planning, growth analysis, strategic planning, communication and public engagement. A working group of staff was assembled to assist and provide guidance to the Project Lead as a detailed project plan was developed and the first draft of the Roadmap was prepared. The Working Group members contributed to content development, reviewed project materials, helped manage risk, identified stakeholders, participated in engagement activities, coordinated within business areas, and facilitated internal communication and alignment. Reporting: How did you inform the decision-maker(s) about the practice and your need for their approval? Please note the name of any documents provided to the decision-makers that you would be willing to share. Two key initiatives to inform decision makers were undertaken prior to commencing the project. The first was a series of in-person interviews with every member of City Council to seek their advice, direction and support for the project. This preliminary interview approach was also undertaken with approximately 40 other internal and external key stakeholders in advance of the project. The second key initiative was a formal report to City Council for their information and clear public communication about Administration’s desire to advance the project and outline the approach. Within the Administration, the Project Lead reported as required to the Branch Leadership and Department Leadership teams within Sustainable Development. After the work was complete the Roadmap was taken to City Council for their formal receipt. Consultation: Did you consult with stakeholders as part of your approval process? If so, how? If possible, attach a copy of templates, surveys or other documents you used as part of your consultation. The motivation for incorporating a public engagement process with Evolving Infill was to set the stage for making infill easier to do, easier to understand and easier to talk about. This new ease was intended to be derived from: 1) actions the City will take (identified in the Infill Roadmap) to support infill growth, and 2) increased positive relationships and trust built between stakeholders and the City. The success of Evolving Infill was therefore intrinsically linked to the public engagement process; without increased trust, relationships and stakeholder buy-in, the City would struggle to enable new unit growth.

Evolving Infill involved three steps, all of which involved public engagement. Step 1 of Evolving Infill was Exploring & Understanding. The three month city-wide conversation felt uncomfortable for some as we were not bringing a final plan out to the public for approval, but rather asking what their infill story was, and what challenges and opportunities existed for residential infill in Edmonton. To do this we asked 8 key questions using a variety of tools and resources, including in-person events, online forums, and discussion guides that could be filled out as an individual or in part of a group. We also provided ‘Hold Your Own Infill Conversation’ training for those who wished to have conversations outside of city-led processes, and encouraged citizens and stakeholders to report back their findings. In Step 2 of Evolving Infill, we brought together a group of 30 diverse citizens, community representatives, builders, developers and City staff to dig deeper into the issues around residential infill. This was the Infill Action Collaborative. Over the course of five facilitated workshops, the Collaborative used what was heard and learned in Step 1, as well as their own personal experiences and knowledge, to identify potential actions for the Roadmap. The actions suggested by the Collaborative were then shared internally with City of Edmonton staff and narrowed down to 24 achievable actions that were supported by both the Urban Planning and Policy and Current Planning branches. These 24 actions became the Edmonton Infill Roadmap. The draft Roadmap was shared with the public, and as a result two actions were combined and eight priority actions identified. The results of the engagement practice were captured in an Evolving Infill Public Engagement Summary. Overall, we reached over 1,000 diverse Edmontonians in 131 different neighbourhoods. How we communicated:

• There were 12,477 unique visitors to the project website • The 5 infill stories video clips were seen by 844 people • We sent 13 Evolving Infill newsletters out between November 2013 and July 2014 to 675

subscribers • We ran 19 print ads, 8 Facebook ads, one banner on cbc.ca/Edmonton, and placed 20

road signs for in-person events • We conducted 7 radio interviews • We sent 57 tweets about Evolving Infill using the #yeginfill tag from the City’s Twitter

account (@CityofEdmonton). These tweets were retweeted 206 times • Four What Was Said reports were published online to share unedited feedback from the

public • Four Infill Action Collaborative Workshop Reports were published to summarize five

workshops

IMPLEMENTING YOUR PRACTICE

Plan: Describe the process you went through to implement the practice. If you used an implementation plan, please note it here. Evolving Infill was initiated by Administration. We discussed the program with over 40 key internal and external stakeholders, as brought the program to the Executive Committee of City Council for information in 2013 for advice, direction and support. We returned to Executive Committee in August 2014 with the finished Infill Roadmap. Once the Roadmap had been received for information, the Urban Policy and Environment and Current Planning branches collaborated to identify who would lead which actions. Policy: What changes to bylaws, regulations or procedures were needed to implement this practice and how did you deal with them? Please attach a copy of the change in bylaw, policy or procedure. No Bylaws, regulations or procedures were needed to implement Evolving Infill. Several Bylaws were identified for amendment as part of the Infill Roadmap, as well changes to our processes and how we communicate. These changes are supported and implemented by Current Planning. When: When did your municipality begin to use the practice? Was it implemented all at once or in stages? The Evolving Infill project was launched in November of 2013 and ran until August 2014 when Edmonton’s Infill Roadmap was presented to the Executive Committee of City Council for information. Implementing the Roadmap began immediately. The majority of the actions fell under the Current Planning branch’s mandate. Current Planning has taken on these actions enthusiastically, and we are on track to begin all 23 actions within two years of publishing the Roadmap. We have begun with the eight actions identified as priorities through Evolving Infill, and will move on to the other actions in a logical and considered fashion. We are also open to undertaking other actions not identified in the Roadmap should the opportunity arise. More importantly, however, the conversation about growth, change and the future of our neighbourhoods and city that was sparked through Evolving Infill continues. Infill remains a hot topic, and the storytelling approach to Who: Who was responsible for implementing the practice? If someone else is responsible for ongoing management, who is it?

The implementation of the Roadmap is overseen by an Infill Steering Committee made up of key Directors and Senior Planners from the Urban Planning and Environment and Current Planning branches. This Steering Committee ensures that actions are implemented and communicated in a coordinated, supported and logical manner both externally and internally across the City organization.

RESOURCES REQUIRED

Budget: How much did it cost you to design and implement your practice (i.e. We saved/spent $XX per year)? What are your ongoing operational and capital costs, if any? Three planners were dedicated to the project, with a budget of approximately $150,000. Staff: What human resources did you need to design, implement and manage your practice? (e.g. “It took X staff member(s) X months on this” or “This is part of normal staff duties.”) It took three planners nine months to launch the city-wide conversation for Evolving Infill and produce Edmonton’s Infill Roadmap. These three planners were focused solely on the project. Infrastructure: What “capital costs” (such as information technology, other equipment or building assets) did you need to design, implement, manage, and/or evaluate your practice? There were no capital costs.

EVALUATING YOUR PRACTICE

Formal: If you did a formal evaluation (e.g. user satisfaction survey, analysis of annual expenditures or number of rate payers served) for your practice, please describe the evaluation tool and the process used. Tell us who was involved. The success of the Evolving Infill process was evaluated primarily by those who participated in the process. This was determined through voluntary event reviews collected at all public events, online, and through a survey included in the Discussion Guide. Informal: If you did an informal evaluation, describe what you did (such as discussing the practice with people in the office or on the street, or letters/comments received).

Informally, we heard from participants that they enjoyed the engagement experience and the opportunity to discuss complex issues with others. When the Roadmap was brought to Executive Committee for information, although a number of people did come out to say that we had not gone far enough (or had gone too far), many did complement the engagement process. Additionally, residential infill and neighbourhood change continues to be a news item in Edmonton, which demonstrates the continuing conversation about infill and city growth. Performance measures: Please list the performance measures for this practice (i.e. reduced number of complaints, money saved, or change in equipment life expectancy.) Please list the process you used for measuring performance, (i.e. We do annual surveys on…) examples include: ▪ collecting data ▪ establishing a baseline ▪ applying the measures ▪ results ▪ follow up

Nine indicators for success were identified at the start of Evolving Infill. These were:

1. Participants have an increased understanding and are aware of the complexity of issues, values, perspectives and facts related to neighbourhood change and the need for infill development.

2. Participant satisfaction that the project goals and objectives, and the role of stakeholders in the process have been clearly defined and understood.

3. A transparent and accountable public engagement process that allows easy access to information and materials by interested parties.

4. An open and accessible public engagement process that allows for equitable participation in constructive dialogue by stakeholders through a variety of appropriate methods.

5. Participants are satisfied that the process allowed for values based discussion and weighing of values, needs and interests.

6. A broad and diverse range of stakeholders representing the demographics of the city are engaged in an inclusive process.

7. Participants believe that their input is valued and will be considered by decision-makers. 8. Participant input is considered and/or used by decision-makers in recommendations,

decisions and implementation. 9. Council has adequate input from citizens to make stronger, better and more sustainable

decisions. We have committed to starting all 23 actions in the Roadmap within a two year time frame. The overall success of the program will be measured in the percentage of residential infill redevelopment that occurs over the next few years. We hope to achieve the 25% target identified

in the MDP. Changes: (a) Based on the evaluation (formal or informal), describe any changes you have made, or would like to make, to your practice as a result. (e.g. “After implementing this practice, we decided that it would be better if…”) -or- (b) Has your practice met your expectations and if so, how? The implementation of Evolving Infill met and exceeded our expectations. We were trying new things, and although we could have made some tweaks overall we were happy with our engagement. We will continue to monitor the percentage of infill housing per year.

LESSONS LEARNED / BENEFITS RECEIVED

Benefits: What are the benefits of this practice to your municipality? (e.g. Preparation of Council agenda packages now requires less time, etc.) City-wide conversations about infill and redevelopment have become more nuanced and able to discuss the trade-offs, barriers and opportunities for infill, and Edmontonians have a better understanding of the challenges that come with municipal growth. Informally, those that participated in Evolving Infill have forged new relationships with individuals and groups they might not otherwise have engaged with, and the overall infill discussion is less polarized than it was before Evolving Infill began. Internally, the projects and changes we undertake as an Administration to support infill are better coordinated and communicated to the public using a cohesive ‘Evolving Infill’ brand. There are also more opportunities for staff from different branches to collaborate and coordinate projects. Key Lessons: What key lessons have you/your municipality learned through the process of: ▪ designing; ▪ obtaining approval; ▪ implementing; and ▪ evaluating your practice?

Include any problems, surprises, and unanticipated benefits. (e.g. “We realized that we needed to spend more time…”) We learned that:

• Reaching out early was critical to the success of Evolving Infill and helped us frame the conversation in the best way possible, as well as generating buy-in and support for the engagement from a variety of stakeholder groups before the project actually began.

• The engagement process is the start of a conversation. Evolving Infill was not expected to achieve everything and solve all issues with infill, but rather start us on a path together with our residents, communities, builders and partners.

• People like to have their own conversations. As demonstrated by the success of groups and individuals hosting their own infill talks, many stakeholders are interested in becoming champions and expanding the conversation beyond city-led processes.

• Online tools were popular. • Personal experience and storytelling are valuable tools to generate interest, encourage

participation, and allow many different types of knowledge space within the discussion. Additionally, stories and experiences were helpful in turning a conceptual discussion about policy and process into something that was meaningful in the everyday lives for all our stakeholders.

• An important lesson for us was that even though we did our professional best and focused on engagement for eight months, we still hear that we did not do enough when we go to Council on concrete Zoning Bylaw changes outlined in the Roadmap. We recognize that there is no “magic bullet” for engagement, that it is a process, and that we must continually strive to engage more meaningfully and with a wider audience.

Advice to Municipal Peers: What advice would you give to another municipality that is considering adopting your practice? Is there anything you might have done differently? Be honest and upfront about what is on the table in terms of changes and input, and what decisions have already been made. Be humble. Approach engagement with an open mind and a willingness to explore ideas with participants, and don’t automatically say ‘no’ if something proposed seems out of the ordinary. Take risks. At the start of the project, we didn’t know what sort of suggestions for how to support infill may come out of the engagement process. Many of the actions in the Roadmap are not things that we would have necessarily come up with ourselves, but are necessary to advance infill in Edmonton.

PRACTICE UPDATES

New Information: There may be some new information to add since this practice was first posted. This is especially true if: ▪ a new process has been implemented in your municipality; ▪ there are new practice evaluation results; or ▪ there has been a change affecting organizational direction. For example, explain how new

economic conditions or a new vision/strategy affect the practice.

Please indicate those changes here. Don't forget to list any new documents that may be useful to your peers. Then go to "Other Information" to attach the new documents.

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OTHER INFORMATION

Suggestions: Please list relevant information sources that others might use or you would be willing to share (courses, Web sites, literature, experts). www.edmonton.ca/evolvinginfill - an up-to-date reference for the Evolving Infill project and Edmonton’s Infill Roadmap Documents & Attachments: Please list any documents you would be willing to share with others interested in your practice (e.g. a bylaw, a policy, approval documents, templates). * Note: Most documents can be electronically attached to your practice in the MEnet database. If only a paper version of your document is available, please send it with your completed Practice Collection Form. We will scan it and attach it. Edmonton’s Infill Roadmap Evolving Infill Public Engagement Summary Evolving Infill Discussion Guide How We Got Here (shows the links between what we heard and the actions in the Roadmap) Evolving Infill Public Involvement Plan Nominations: Do you have any suggestions of other individuals or municipalities with municipal practices that we should add to the Municipal Excellence network? Please list their practice, municipality, and contact information. Or, e-mail menet@gov.ab.ca and let us know about a municipal colleague that has a really good way of doing things. Click here to enter text.

COMMENTS Have we missed something; anything you’d like to add to the areas we have touched on, or an area we have not mentioned?

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