Part of a surplus school site in the Wedgewood Heights neighbourhood will be sold for $1 to Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta for development of a mixed-market, multi-unit housing project, Edmonton city council has decided
The sale passed in a vote of 10 to 3 during a court-ordered public hearing held Wednesday. The 60-unit, townhouse-style housing development will include 31 units designated as affordable housing, meaning the rental costs must be below average market rates.
As part of the City Plan, the city is striving for 16 per cent affordable housing across Edmonton.
Three councillors — Thu Parmar, Mikie Elliot and Karen Principe — voted against the sale.
The future of the Wedgewood Heights surplus school site and an adjacent park has been a contentious matter, with neighbourhood residents concerned about the loss of green space that would result from development.
The below-market sale of the parcel of land had previously been approved by council in October 2024. However, resident Leah Widynowski made an application to Court of King’s Bench in November 2025, arguing that public hearings didn’t meet requirements set out in the Municipal Government Act.
The court voided council’s approval and ordered the statuatory public hearing, which took place on Wednesday.
“I find that a public hearing was required to consider the motion to sell the land at below market value,” Justice Shaina Leonard noted in her decision.
“This did not occur and therefore, the decision approving the sale of land at below market value was procedurally unfair. This decision is therefore declared invalid. The decision to sell lands at below market value is remitted back to [Edmonton City Council].”
(City of Edmonton)
Widynowski, a Wedgewood Heights resident who has spearheaded several efforts to preserve the green space, was one of 16 who spoke to council during Wednesday’s hearing.
“I’m asking you to vote no for the sale of Wedgwood Park and retain it as district parkland,” she told council.
“By doing so, you would hold administration accountable for the procedural failure that brought us here today. You would be demonstrating that when the law is not followed, the answer is not to press forward regardless. Preserving this park as public green space with the meaningful acknowledgement that the process matters.”
Look for other options
The Wedgewood site was among 10 surplus school sites put up for sale or lease by the city in November 2024. Other sites include Belmont, Blue Quill, Caernarvon (North), Dunluce, Kiniski Gardens, La Perle, Lymburn, Miller, Overlanders and Summerlea.
One year later, the city said it found affordable housing providers to build about 1,300 new homes.
Coun. Thu Parmar, for Ward Sipiwiyiniwak where the site is located, tried to avert the sale, moving that the city should go back to the drawing board and look at other options for Treaty 8.
Parmar said the neighbourhood, located just inside the Henday ring road, is unique in that it has very little green space and a lot of traffic congestions.
“As somebody who has also been in the park to use a soccer field with my children, there is no other green space in this area,” she said, adding “It is a one way in, one way out.”
Parmar said she doesn’t support selling at below market value.
“My job as a councillor is to build community, and right now, what I’m seeing right now is dividing community even before it starts.”
Parmar’s motion failed 8 to 4.
Jamie Koe, Treaty 8’s chief administrative officer, said any deviation from the project could jeopardize secured funding, such as through the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund, for the development.
“We do have investments in the site that would be lost,” Koe said.
“We would likely lose that preconditional approval on this site and this project, and we would need to return to federal funding partners for financing for a future project if it was on a different site.”
Many councillors who voted against Parmar’s motion and for the sale of the lot said the priority to create more Indigenous housing is too important to delay.
The city said it found one in eight Edmontonians who own a home, one in four renter households and one in three Indigenous renter households struggle with core housing needs.
“My personal decision on this may not be pleasing to everyone,” said Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette, said.
“I think of the families that will go in there who will be very, very happy to be in that new neighbourhood, very happy to be out of precarious housing, and those children will grow up with a much better opportunity than many Indigenous children in this city.”