Campaign Trail: The Orchards At Ellerslie

Our team started canvassing our leaflets yesterday in The Orchards At Ellerslie and will complete the neighbourhood today.

It’s a lovely new neighbourhood still under construction with primarily young families and couples, although it seemed like quite a cozy place for the empty-nesters I met as well. The neighbourhood greets visitors with a beautiful sculpture of three giant palm-like trees powered by solar panels, and a large retention pond. There is currently just the land and sky on the horizon to the south and east, which made a great sunset yesterday. Getting down to The Orchards after picking up a volunteer was a long journey even during midday traffic. When I got down to South Edmonton Common to get down via Parsons Road, a service truck backed us up all the way down to Ellerslie. I can’t imagine how frustrating evening rush hour would be for residents. At the end of the school day, a school bus dropped off the children in one location to allow them to walk home as the nearest school is over 10 blocks away to where I was at.

Among the residents I talked to, the most common concerns were over road access to the community and the absence of snow removal this winter. Another resident has had her vehicle broken into twice in the same week, as there wasn’t enough police presence in this community where some residents had just moved in this week. One of my initiatives is to ensure information is available to citizens to see if police had patrolled their street within a three to seven day window.

A couple residents in one crescent were concerned about the lack of drainage for their crescent, as melt water and storm water builds up often. One of the homeowners even told me that his new house warranty was only 1 year, compared to the 5 years with his neighbours across the street, as he was on the side which flooded. That is a huge oversight on the part of planning with the developers, and not at all a solution to the issue of flooding in his crescent. Having lived in South East Edmonton for over 25 years, we all know the consequences of delaying proper drainage projects in the Mill Woods area and how expensive it is for homeowners, insurance policies, and the continued construction project on 23 Avenue. I would definitely have this crescent looked at to see who is at fault, and how it can be fixed with minimal disturbance.

Our team will continue to complete coming through The Orchards neighbourhood today. Hope to meet more of you.