Kenilworth residents oppose three-storey, seven-unit infill; builder ordered unsafe property demolished

Neighbours in the Kenilworth neighbourhood of southeast Edmonton are fighting the approval of a three-storey, seven-unit infill apartment building, filing an appeal with the city while tensions escalate between residents and the developer.

Liz Thomas, who lives on the street, said she's concerned about overflow parking. "They'll be parking all over, including my side of the street," she said. "I know it's public parking, but it is gonna be congested." Allison Greyeyes, another resident, called the project "a really terrible neighbour that nobody wants," and expressed frustration with the city's role. "It's really disheartening. It's like the city doesn't really care. That's how it feels."

Residents are also citing safety issues during construction. The city and fire department declared the property unsafe last week, posting an order on the fence before it was demolished over the weekend. The order cited the property as "dangerous to the public and first responders" and a fire risk because parts of the structure were not closed up and secure.

Yash Singh, the site supervisor for Yash Homes, disputed the safety concerns. "If I'm looking at it, I think it's pretty safe," he said. "But once again, we're law-abiding citizens. We like to follow, and we are following the law, and we're also following all the permits issued by the city."

Gurjinder Singh, CEO of Yash Homes, denied there were any safety issues at all before the order went up. "We put the fence around it, and all the fence clamped and tight locked," he said. "And I don't know how it's unsafe." He attributed the city's order to opposition to the infill project itself. "Because they don't like the community over there. They don't like the new buildings, stuff like that. They're trying to give me a hard time."

Residents expressed frustration with the lack of community input on the project. "I had to pay for a variance, and the notice went out to a significant amount of people around my home to give me permission to build onto the back of my house within my property line," Greyeyes said. "But residents have no say when a developer comes in to build something that does not fit within the community."

The City of Edmonton addressed the property through the Problem Properties Initiative, which handles structures with "significant harmful impacts" on surrounding communities. Demolishing the site brought it into compliance with the safety order. The city said it "reviews permit applications and plans, conducts inspections to identify and address compliance issues early, educates builders on development rules and proper construction practices and penalizes non-compliance."