Proposed residential towers point of contention for south Edmonton neighbourhood

A proposal to build 750 residential units where a strip mall now stands has south Edmonton residents speaking out. CTV News Edmonton's Marek Tkach has the story

People in a south Edmonton neighbourhood have some concerns about a proposed residential development in an area already busy with other developments.

A proposal to build 750 residential units in Steinhauer is being submitted to replace the Ermineskin Centre on 106 Street NW. The spot is currently a strip mall.

Two 20-storey towers would be eligible for development in the area.

The mall in question is walking distance from the Century Park retail and transit hub – an epicentre for new development that already includes several new residential towers being built.

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Neil Thompson, who has called the Steinhauer neighbourhood home for decades, believes the city might be moving too fast.

“There’s already a lot of traffic from the Century Park development. We’ve had some incidents where children have been hit on the road, and we don’t want the additional traffic,” he told CTV News Edmonton on Friday.

The area’s councillor, Jon Morgan, attended an open house on the issue earlier this month, where more than 100 residents voiced their concerns.

“There’s definitely a balance there,” he said in an interview Friday. “So I’ll ensure that we understand that we can’t continue to sprawl on forever. We can’t keep growing out. It’s not sustainable.”

Meanwhile, businesses in the area told CTV News Edmonton off-camera that they weren’t afraid of the new development. One said developers would most likely buy them out if construction starts before their lease is up.

The developer of the site declined an interview and says they can’t comment on the project.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Marek Tkach