The city is looking at ways to find the funds to pay for a multi-million dollar Blatchford bill to deliver environmentally friendly heating and cooling for the neighbourhood.
So far most of the work in the “net zero” neighbourhood has been underground.
“We’re on pace with Blatchford actually overall, we spent the last couple of years putting the utilities in the ground,” said Don Iveson, Mayor of Edmonton.
The utility service is unique, using geo-thermal energy which will be shared between buildings through a network of water pipes beneath the Blatchford roadways.
The eagerness to provide an efficient service comes at a heftycost of $660 million over the next 50 years.
Most of it will be paid by builders ($147M) and residents ($420M) over the long-term but the city says in order for it to get up and running it needs $93 million upfront.
City council had hoped to receive that money from the province or Ottawa through green grants but have yet to receive a penny.
“We're not in a position, really to create a utility, and that's part of the problem,” said Ward 8 Councillor Ben Henderson. “I think we could deal with it with some of the money we're going to make back on the land.”
Recently announced extra money from the federal gas tax ($51M) could be a source, or it could be added to the city’s debt—which would result in a 0.4 per cent increase in property taxes.
One councillor suggested that a bump in utility rates for Blatchford residents should occur due to them choosing to live in an environmental experiment.
“It kinda begs the question, how come the folks in Blatchford can't pay a little bit extra for a neighbourhood that is proposed to be a fairly premium neighbourhood,”said Ward 4 Councillor Aaron Paquette.
A report on different rate scenario options to pay for the Blatchford utility is expected to be back before council in November.
With files from CTV Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson
