CTV News: August 20, 2025

Cartmell is calling for reduced units and mandatory parking stalls. He believes mistakes have been made by the current council.

“Frankly, I think that there was more of a focus on policy than there was on people,” Cartmell, who currently represents the southwestern Ward pihêsiwin and who was first elected to city council in 2017, told media on Wednesday.

“A lot of this work was crafted during (the COVID-19 pandemic), when there was not a lot of opportunity for face-to-face engagement, and I think we left people behind.”

Edmonton is a city on the rise. More people are choosing to build their lives here, and we need to make room for that growth. But we also need to make sure it’s done right.

Over the past few years, infill has become one of the most contentious issues at City Hall. Residents have seen major changes in their neighbourhoods—without warning, without the infrastructure to support them, and without being part of the conversation.

That’s not smart growth. And it’s not the Edmonton way.

My plan is simple: smart growth, strong neighbourhoods. 

What does that mean?

It means putting people at the centre—by launching neighbourhood-based action groups that give residents a real seat at the table in shaping their communities. Engagement that listens and responds.

It means regulatory clarity— that incorporates community feedback; scaling back mid-block row housing, applying temporary holding zones where needed, and ensuring zoning reflects a community’s actual capacity to grow.

It means focusing growth where it makes the most sense—downtown, Blatchford, along transit, and around our universities and colleges.

It means designing with care—setting strong architectural expectations, protecting privacy, and expanding the role of the Edmonton Design Committee to ensure infill enhances neighbourhood character.

And it means finally aligning our plans—integrating the City Plan, District Plans, and a new Infill Infrastructure Strategy to guide smarter investments and responsible development.

We’ll also require every infill application in mature neighbourhoods to include a cumulative impact statement—outlining how much development has already occurred in the area and what that means for population, housing units and property values.

This is a plan that works for communities, for builders, and for a better Edmonton.

Let’s not pit neighbours against neighbours. Let’s come together and build something we can be proud of.

Read the full policy here: https://www.timcartmell.ca/smart_growth_strong_neighbourhoods

Let’s build it better.

— Tim

The following statement was released by Tim Cartmell on August 18, 2025, regarding mandatory utility connections in Blatchford.

Here’s the reality: I support keeping the district energy system running for the first phase of development and for the homes and buildings already connected . Those homeowners bought into that system, and we need to keep our commitments to them.

But the City is now considering a bylaw change that would force every new home in Blatchford to connect to the utility — even if those homes are designed to be fully net-zero using next-generation solar panels and battery technology. That doesn’t make sense. These technologies can make townhomes completely self-sufficient, without the ongoing costs and risks that come with being tied to the utility — costs that are one of the reasons Blatchford homes are already so expensive.

Blatchford was supposed to be about innovation. It was supposed to be a community where we try new ideas, attract private investment, and give local graduates and entrepreneurs a place to build and grow their technology right here in Edmonton. Instead, this proposal shuts that down in the name of protecting a City-owned utility.

This is exactly why the City needs to get out of the development business. Suggesting a law that bans innovation — just to keep a City-run operation going — is short-sighted, costly, and unfair to future homeowners.

Blatchford should be a hub of green innovation, not a showcase of government overreach. It’s time to cap the utility at its current boundaries and let new, more affordable technologies take root - which in turn, will open up new development.

City News: July 7, 2025

Cartmell is now also calling the move to extend the meeting “extremely disappointing”, saying that council was aware of his travel plans and should have discussed the infill question earlier.

“It is beyond disrespectful to infringe upon those plans through poor planning and disgraceful performance by City Council,” he said in a statement.

Adding, he will not attend the rest of the meeting, but will work to address infill if elected in the fall.

Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, says councillors could have legitimate concerns, such as flights already being booked, but joining virtually would be a good compromise, especially as there may be little sympathy for politicians losing vacation.

“To the public, to those who don’t fully know what’s going on, it looks like well-paid elected officials are complaining about working when many people don’t even have the option of having a vacation. So it’s a tricky thing to defend,” said Williams.

City News July 2, 2025

Earlier this week, a motion put forward by councillor and mayoral candidate Tim Cartmell to halt infill development until there’s more consultation was ruled “out of order” by fellow councillors.

Cartmell said he feels it’s needed.

“It’s the neighbourhoods with the highest property values that are seeing this, as opposed to other neighbourhoods. Something is going on, and we should stop and figure out what all those details are. That’s what I’m hearing from community, and I’m trying to convey that at council, and I’m not getting support from my other councillors to acknowledge that concern,” Cartmell explained.

CBC News: July 2, 2025 

City coun.Tim Cartmell proposed an idea to pause some infill development temporarily. But Edmonton's legal team shut down his motion at a public hearing. CBC's Tristan Mottershead reports.

CBC News: July 1, 2025 

Edmonton city council won't be putting a moratorium on infill, after the city's legal team advised that doing so would contravene provincial legislation.

Ward pihêsiwin Coun. Tim Cartmell, who's also a mayoral candidate in the upcoming election, put forward a motion Monday evening to pause development approvals for mid-block properties, in the small scale residential zone, until the city re-examines plans for groups of neighbourhoods. 

CTV News: June 30, 2025

City councillor Tim Cartmell, who’s running for mayor this fall, called the hearing “an absolute mess.”

“We’ve split this thing into a discussion at the beginning of the meeting, and a discussion at the end of the meeting, and the meeting is two 12-hour-days long, and people don’t know if they should be here at the beginning, or here at the end,” Cartmell, who represents Ward pihêsiwin on Edmonton’s south side, told media on Monday.

CBC News: June 26, 2025

Mayoral candidate and Ward pihêsiwin Coun. Tim Cartmell is calling for a moratorium on infill development. He said it's not the smaller infill developments — like duplexes and skinny homes — that are angering people in older neighbourhoods, but the large, monolithic multi-unit buildings that have been popping up between single-family homes.