Big plan for Edmonton’s river valley released

[JAH]

Sweeet... excellent news! Hopefully Royal Museum project will include some river valley work too.. and if we can get a major development at the Epcor plant site.. and the work being done at Louise Mck (?) park (funicular included please)... that would be one river valley to be proud of!

[Coldrsx]

holy crap...they plan to cover river valley rd so you can go from the leg to the river..

http://www.rivervalley.ab.ca/pdf/Cap...ity_Centre.pdf

[Kevin_foster]

ah more room for the homeless and river valley rapists/killers to hide!

I kid I kid.

This is something edmonton NEEDS. Aside from it's tourist attractions (the mall and the river valley) this will be "THE river valley".

Thumbs up!

[HomeInMyShoes]

^^That is pretty cool stuff. I mean the covered part, not the homeless and killers and rapists thing.

[Shodan]

River valley park tab tops $600 million

By CARY CASTAGNA, SUN MEDIA

March 15, 2007 - Edmonton Sun

It ain't easy being green. And it's not cheap, either.

The price tag has topped $600 million on the proposed River Valley Park, an 18,000-acre park development that will run 88 km along the North Saskatchewan River from Devon to Fort Saskatchewan.

The River Valley Alliance, organizers behind what is being hailed as "one of the world's largest integrated park systems," have drafted a detailed preliminary plan, which they're trotting out today at a press conference.

"It's quite a grand proposal," said Coun. Ron Hayter, who sits on the board of the River Valley Alliance. "I hope the citizens of Edmonton and the other municipalities along the river will enthusiastically buy into this particular plan. This river valley is a treasure that we must protect and preserve and utilize in a positive way."

The River Valley Park concept, which has been compared to Vancouver's Stanley Park and New York's Central Park, will see existing parks, facilities and attractions along the North Saskatchewan River fall under the authority of the alliance. New attractions, including at least seven pedestrian bridges, will also be developed.

The grandiose green corridor meanders through Edmonton and includes parkland in Parkland County, Leduc County, Sturgeon County and Strathcona County. The park was initially estimated to cost $200 million in July 2004.

Alliance executive director Bruce Wilson said at the time it was difficult to predict a timeline for the ambitious project.

Funding will come from the three levels of government, private donors and various foundations, Hayter said.
_________________________________________________________________

Interesting proposal; let's see where this goes. Edmonton's greatest asset is its river valley, not that thing in the western part of town.

[IKAN104]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

holy crap...they plan to cover river valley rd so you can go from the leg to the river..

http://www.rivervalley.ab.ca/pdf/Cap...ity_Centre.pdf

nice!

[scumtoes]

beautiful.

let's just hope that this doesn't take 30 years to get done. the parks of the last boom (gold bar, rundle, etc) are starting to show their age and could use some upgrading.

easy access to the river valley is a key for more people to get out and enjoy it. edmonton is a really pretty city from the valley, to bad most edmontonians, new and old, never see this side of the city and still hold on the negative stereotype of edmonton being ugly and brash.

the plans for terwilliger park look pretty cool. the SW sections of the valley are so nice...so many good bike trails down there.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by scumtoes

to bad most edmontonians, new and old, never see this side of the city and still hold on the negative stereotype of edmonton being ugly and brash.

Non-Edmontonians see it that way, too. I always found Edmonton a bit.. well, as you said, ugly and brash - until I took a drive through the river valley by accident. Now I take a walk or drive through the area every chance I get. It's truly one of the most amazing unknown places in any Canadian city. Some more development is awesome! The only part of Calgary that has a river valley even approaching it (and that's being generous) contains a waste treatment plant.

Ugly and brash, that depends what you are comparing to I guess!! This burg is going through a amazing transformation. Hope to see a very vibrant and sexy city in the years to come.

River Valley
Downtown
124st
Whyte Ave

And most Important, my property.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by JerryK

Ugly and brash, that depends what you are comparing to I guess!!

Absolutely! To be fair, like many Canadians I thought the same of Calgary for years - because most people see the airport, the industrial area around the airport, and 16th Ave (the Trans-Canada on the way to Banff). Maybe downtown, which is impressive for its buildings but otherwise flat and drab. For some reason we tend to funnel tourists through the worst parts of our cities.

Winnipeg and Toronto also suffer from this to some degree. Winnipeg, because it's hard to really appreciate just how many trees are there unless you go up a high-rise (so I usually take people to the revolving restaurant to wow them), Toronto because.. well, it's a huge city and hard to show off the best parts, plus it's easy to stay on the freeways much of the time. Same with Montreal - if you've never walked up Mt. Royal, you really haven't seen the city in my books.

Edmonton should promote its river valley as THE #1 tourist attraction. Forget the stupid mall (even though I do love it). I thought the Peace River valley was impressive, and Edmonton has an even better one running right through the city!

[feepa]

^^ This looks really cool. Can't wait to see if it comes true. Maybe this will be in conjunction with doing something at the power plant as well?

[JAH]

yah i love that river valley idea for the leg.. river valley road would run through a tunnel.. very nice planning... Add water fountains, statues, nice seating and benches, nice lighting, etc.. and damn.. if u thought the leg was popular for wedding and grad pics.. just wait

[JBinCalgary]

good news

[Shodan]

River valley worth $605M investment

Paula Simons
The Edmonton Journal

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

REGION'S PRIDE AND JOY TO BE DEVELOPED OVER TIME: Keeping the North Saskatchewan River clean, green and vibrant is vital to the future of the capital region.

Which park in Alberta receives the most visitors every year?

- Banff National Park

- Jasper National Park

- Kananaskis Country

OK, it's a trick question. The correct answer? Our river valley.

If you add up all the people who visit the zoo, tour Fort Edmonton, chow down at the Heritage Festival, applaud Shakespeare in the park, walk their dogs, swim at the Mill Creek pool, sing along at the Folk Festival, skate at the Victoria Oval, ski at Snow Valley, picnic at Rundle Park or golf at the Riverside; if you add up the people who bike, hike, jog, stroll, cross-country ski, snowshoe, canoe, toboggan, fish or otherwise amuse themselves along or upon the North Saskatchewan, you get about 14 million visits a year. Most of those visitors aren't "tourists," of course. Mostly they're us -- enjoying the river that defines our city.

Yet we take our river valley for granted. Many of its amenities are aging or inadequate. We built most of them 30, 40, or 50 years ago, and we've been stingy about maintaining them. We committed years ago to maintaining the river valley as greenbelt. But as our metro population grows and our urban footprint expands, east and west, we haven't been vigilant about preserving the valley as shared public space.

Four years ago, the seven municipalities that hold land along the river -- Edmonton, Devon, Fort Saskatchewan, Parkland County, Leduc County, Strathcona County and Sturgeon County -- founded a unique group, the River Valley Alliance. The alliance was given a $1.6-million budget to come up with a master plan for the river, a plan that would protect our natural heritage and repair and expand our recreational infrastructure, to create a coherent, connected, 88-kilometre-long park covering some 7,300 hectares.

Last week, the Alliance finally revealed its long-awaited vision. And it comes with an eye-popping price tag -- $605 million. That's a darned big ask, even if we expect the federal and provincial governments, the seven municipal governments, and private and corporate donors to kick in. But Sol Rolingher, the Edmonton lawyer who chairs the River Valley Alliance, isn't apologizing for the tab. After all, he points out, this isn't a one-year or even a 10-year project. It's a plan that might take 20 or 30 years.

See SIMONS / Back of section

"We knew the price was going to be big and we weren't going to be embarrassed by it," Rolingher says.

"This is a definitive plan. It includes everything required to make a truly remarkable park. We wanted to do it right. We didn't want to come back and say, 'Oh, we underestimated.' "

The alliance plan breaks that $605 million into four chunks.

The first $40 million -- and perhaps the most critical -- is budgeted for land acquisition and reclamation. That's money to make sure we get sensitive riverfront property into public hands. And money, too, to help reclaim former industrial sites east of the city as attractive public spaces.

Next there's $250 million for what you might call basic park infrastructure, links to connect the whole 88-kilometre corridor: new walking and bike trails, new boat launches, new pedestrian bridges, new campfire pits, new public bathrooms. The most ambitious element of the plan calls for 12 new foot bridges -- at an estimated cost of $12 million each, they alone would cost $144 million.

After that, there's $155 million for upgrades to major existing river valley attractions -- money for things like fixing up the grounds below the Royal Alberta Museum, building a funicular at Louise McKinney Park, restoring the Strathcona Science Park or turning Rabbit Hill into a year-round resort.

And finally, there's $160 million for brand-new attractions and amenities like an aquarium or a marina.

Yes, $605 million sounds like an absurd amount of money. And some of the report's more "pie-in-the-sky" ideas do seem a little flaky. (What would we put in an Edmonton aquarium? Spot-tailed shiners and sturgeon?)

But we can't go on ignoring and under-funding our river valley. We need to invest in it, and not just to preserve its environmental integrity and public character. It has the potential to be a great tourist attraction, a magnet that not only draws holiday visitors, but helps convince talented outsiders to make this region home. The valley is our great social and economic asset. But we're not availing ourselves of its full potential. And we're not protecting what we have.

Let's start with the basics. Acquiring and reclaiming new parkland. Preserving sensitive ecosystems. Renewing the beloved but dowdy facilities we already have. Building trails and links to connect the park end to end.

The danger in asking for $605 million is that there won't be public support, that people will just roll their eyes, snort, and tune out. But our river valley is too precious, this opportunity too great. If I can borrow a budget metaphor, maybe we don't need a Hummer of a park. Maybe we need something more like a Prius -- hip, green, and practical. The North Saskatchewan should be the capital region's pride and joy. Let's not get distracted by big numbers. Let's set some fundamental priorities and get to work.

© The Edmonton Journal 2007

Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

[Coldrsx]

well this is a good start...


Bloated budget could sink pool
Queen E reconstruction may cost a king's ransom
Gordon Kent, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2007

EDMONTON - The future of Edmonton's oldest outdoor swimming pool is once again on the bubble after the cost of reconstructing the facility came in 50 per cent over budget.

In 2005, the city narrowly approved a $4.1-million overhaul of the crumbling Queen Elizabeth pool, following public pressure to redevelop the river valley site instead of covering it with grass.

The project was put out for bids last October, but only one company responded, engineering services director Ron Chomyc said Monday.
Council had agreed to spend $4.1 million to overhaul Queen Elizabeth pool.View Larger Image View Larger Image
Council had agreed to spend $4.1 million to overhaul Queen Elizabeth pool.
John Lucas, the Journal
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While he couldn't release detailed information, he said the proposal received in February was about 50 per cent higher than the budgeted amount.

"We're over budget on that, but we're over budget on most of the projects, if not all the projects, we're doing."

Staff might try over the next few weeks to negotiate with the company or reduce the amount of work requested, to cut the price, Chomyc said.

With the local economy sending construction prices soaring, the Queen E pool has joined a long list of plans councillors will have to reconsider this spring, probably starting in April.

The pool work could be postponed or stopped entirely, recreation facilities services manager Rob Smyth said.

"Depending on what the numbers are, 'Is it a worthwhile project?' is the first question," he said.

"Do you want to wait awhile and see if costs come down, do you want to change the program a little bit ... or should it be cancelled?"

The pool, opened in 1922, has been closed since a major crack in the tank allowed all the water to leak in September 2003.

The new egg-shaped design includes a concrete pool built in curving lines with a "lazy river" where people can float in an artificial stream, a large shallow section featuring a sloping ramp for easy entry and three 25-metre swimming lanes. A tiered wooden deck, tot pool and hot tub also are planned. Work was expected to start this summer and be finished in 2008.

"If projects are tendered and come in slightly over the budget, there's a higher likelihood of them proceeding," Smyth said. "If they're extremely over, then you have to question the whole project."

John Stobbe, vice-president of the Friends of the Queen Elizabeth Pool Society, hopes the city begins the revamp as scheduled. "It's a wonderful setting. Summer is short -- why would we give up that wonderful type of experience?"

One money-saving option might be to do the project in stages, Stobbe said. His non-profit group will try to raise funds from the province or private donors to make up any shortfall, and he'd also like to see if volunteers could erect the facility in a "community building bee."

However, Smyth cautioned additional money will be needed quickly before the tender offer expires.

Although neighbourhood groups usually put up playgrounds, he's concerned about legal liability and finding people with necessary skills to construct something as big as a pool. "Playgrounds are fairly simple to build. This is a major construction project. I'm a little skeptical it would be feasible."

gkent@thejournal.canwest.com


© The Edmonton Journal 2007

[sync]

this looks impressive!

[IntotheWest]

Wow - hopefully this gets accomplished...quite a steep pricetag, but a lot of ground to cover!

For two years living in Edmonton, I'd walk through the river valley at lunch almost everyday just down from downtown....it is a fantastic area, and a great selling feature for life in Edmonton!