Edmonton still confused over province's infill rollback

Uncertainty filled the chambers of City Hall Friday morning as dozens gathered for an update on Edmonton infill. A week after the province's announcement to reverse Edmonton zoning bylaws, the city's no closer to enforcing this new mandate. Eight days ago, the provincial government announced that there was going to be a directive. I had assumed that that directive would have been in writing on the day of the announcement. Eight days later, we do not have that yet. According to NAC, the city's hands are tied waiting for a written mandate from the government. And the only information they have to go on is last week's announcement. NAC says it's frustrating to see their 90-day window ticking away without any proper details. Based off the last information we've received from the provincial government, is that that could still be at least two weeks away. So we could be about three weeks into the three-month directive without any written information. Of the dozens of Edmontonians who sat in the crowd of this city hall meeting, some understand the city's frustrations. They're not working their way towards a decision because they don't know what the guardrails and boundaries on their freedom to act will be. Others argue there's more the city could be doing with their time. I think one of the things that they can do is they can see that people who have come to multiple public hearings, people who have written their councillors, people who have come to urban planning committee meetings, they wanted to be heard and they were heard by the province and they're asking city council for a reset, a pause. According to the province, last week's announcement acts as an outline for the city. And they say they're continuing to meet with both Edmonton and Calgary to support them both as they work through these next steps. Tristan Modershed, CBC News, Edmonton.