Summerlea Update and Response to Covid-19

Town Hall

On February 24, we had a town hall meeting with City planners and project personnel and Councilor Andrew Knack on the topics of the West Edmonton Mall rezoning requests (overflow lot rezoning and signage) and the City’s proposed relocation of the LRT station from 87th Avenue at West Edmonton Mall to the overflow lot.

Thank you to everyone who came out for the meeting. Your continuing interest makes a big difference to the success of the community.

Since the town hall meeting, the community league board has been working with other leagues and gaining support to not rezone the overflow lot. Furthermore, the City of Edmonton has told us that they rejected the proposed signage changes and asked WEM to resubmit a more reasonable proposal. The rezoning application will not be addressed at a city council meeting until sometime after April.

COVID-19 Response: What Do We Do Now?

In response to COVID-19 and the need for physical distancing, the Annual General Meeting and the Big Bin Event that were scheduled for May have been postponed until further notice.

You may also have noticed that the playground is closed.

However, we are all encouraged to get outside, as long as we maintain a 2 meter distance from others not in our household.

The Edmonton Public Library has fun ideas using resources for kids and grown-ups on their EPL at Home page. And there’s a new city-wide art project called Window Art (#YEGWindowArt) that we can all participate in.

Local businesses are finding innovative ways to serve us and for this they deserve our support. From arts and entertainment to vehicle repairs and maintenance, you can find them here at Things that Are Open.

Check our new Things to Do page for more information on these activities.

The community league is taking a look at how we can organize to foster neighborhood engagement. More information to come. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, let us know at info@summerlea.org.

Summerlea and the Edmonton Police

At our community league board meeting in February, we had the pleasure of hosting two of the police constables who serve the Summerlea community. The constables were from the West Edmonton Mall Beats, which has six members in total. That’s more than the average of two per community, but our constables cover both West Edmonton Mall and our neighborhood.

They answered a lot of questions for us and gave us these important insights that can help us build and maintain a safer community.

Insight #1: Report all crimes

If you experience or spot a crime, report it. You may think that it’s not worth the trouble because it’s too late, or the police can’t do anything about it. Report it anyway. Incidents that are reported make it into the statistics, and that’s what drives police coverage.

Whether it’s vandalism, including graffiti, attempted break-ins, or even the theft of your sunglasses from your unlocked car, it’s a crime. Why should we excuse lawlessness?

And since we’ve had online reporting, it’s easy to do.

To see all the ways you can contact the police for any reason visit www.edmontonpolice.ca/contacteps.aspx

Insight #2: Get outside

Go out for walks in the neighborhood, especially the park. The more people out and about, the less likely we will have undesirable activity in our community.

And if you should see someone in distress—for instance passed out in the park or falling down drunk—you can do something without “getting involved.” Call 2-1-1 and a van will arrive and take the person to a shelter.

Speaking of 2-1-1, that’s a City of Edmonton service staffed around the clock with real people. Download the 211 Pocket Guide and you’ll have the numbers to all the kinds of services including crisis lines, shelters, and health and safety.

Town Hall Meeting: LRT Construction and Rezoning Applications

Special Town Hall Meeting for Summerlea Residents

LRT Construction Impacts & WEM Rezoning Applications

Monday, February 24 at 7:30 pm
Carrington Village West Social Centre
9375-172 Street

Please plan to attend this important meeting to learn more regarding residential planning underway that will have major impacts for Summerlea.  Councillor Knack and City Planners will be in attendance to answer questions. 

Agenda includes:

  • WEM Rezoning Application of the overflow parking lot to Commercial Retail and Entertainment
  • Use of overflow lot as temporary transit centre during LRT construction.  Other construction impacts for consideration.
  • WEM application to add a sign schedule which would allow flexibility in the number and kinds of signs permitted on site.
  • Timelines and next steps

For more information visit Summerlea Planning Applications.