Westmount Covenant
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
This FAQ merges community concerns, foundational explanations, and practical details on registering a covenant in Westmount. It addresses the Covenant’s purpose to preserve Westmount’s single-family home character by limiting redevelopment to 1 - 3 dwellings on full size lots or split lots, plus secondary suites and garden suites. It addresses building vs. land protections, zoning changes, market value concerns, enforcement, etc., drawing from legal insights and historical examples like Old Glenora.
At its core, the Covenant is a neighbourhood protection initiative, especially powerful when all or most homes on a block sign on to keep the block out of reach for 8, 9 or 10-plex builders.
Some of the Covenant’s value lies in its 75-year term—your new house won't stay "new" in 30, 40, or 50 years, and without protection, your lot and your neighbour's lot could be combined for a 16 or 20-suite apartment in the future, dramatically altering the character of the neighbourhood.
For a Covenant to be effective, it needs broad support from all homeowners. As more homeowners sign on, the covenant becomes stronger as a deterrent. When one neighbour commits, it encourages others to follow suit. Even if your new home isn’t at risk of redevelopment, your neighbour’s property might be and your neighbour may be more likely to sign on if you are.
Basically, you are signing to protect your neighbour and your neighbour is doing it for you, together are are doing it for the neighbourhood. The objective is to signal to developers that Westmount is off-limits for multiplexes, large buildings on combined lots, or retail establishments on single-family streets.
A covenant is a voluntary private contract among neighbours, registered against their individual land titles. It restricts what can be built on their lot, e.g. full size homes, skinnies, and duplexes straddling two skinny lots, all with secondary suites and garden suites, if desired.
Covenants are not new—they've existed in Edmonton for over 100 years, predating zoning bylaws to guide land use, buildings, and architectural standards. In Westmount, it helps preserve our residential character and restrict multiplex development on local streets. Many homeowners feel that the City's 2024 blanket rezoning to RS (allowing multiplexes) undermines homeowners. A Covenant protects lifestyle and value.
The 2024 blanket rezoning of residential properties to RS allows multiplexes among single-family homes in mature neighbourhoods. It has left the impression that City Hall is not interested in protecting the character and value of older neighbourhoods.
Multiplexes create large building envelopes that overshadow neighbours, reduce trees and soft landscaping, alter street character, and cause parking congestion, waste collection problems, water pressure issues, and sewer overflows (e.g., in Belgravia). Homeowners accept and facilitate meaningful densification, but they initiate covenants to counter densification overreach.
Covenants were common in the 1950s and earlier, before zoning bylaws. Homeowners sign a Covenant to protect themselves and their neighbours by preserving street character and property value. They are motivated to keep Westmount’s single-family home area with consistency in lot coverage, setbacks, landscaping, and trees. They want to maintain privacy, retain quality of life and protect neighbourhood value. Westmount's appeal lies in its tree canopy, small parks, and quiet atmosphere. Many residents are original owners or young families renovating or building homes on split or full-size lots, and many take the opportunity to add suites.
Over the last 15 to 20 years, Westmount’s renewal has attracted young families because of the neighbourhood’s proximity to nearby amenities, schools and parks. Split lots, skinnies, secondary suites and garden suites achieved approximately 300% densification.
The Covenant is needed to prevent the construction of overpowering apartment buildings, and re-ignite homeowner driven rejuvenation and densification. Ultimately, it's a community effort; broad participation in the Covenant makes Westmount a no-go zone for multiplex developers, safeguarding the neighborhood for generations to come.
Pros: A Covenant restricts land to single-family homes with suites on full size lots or on skinny lots. It applies to current and future owners and ensures neighbourhood consistency and stability, making properties more desirable for families investing in single-family homes.
Developers avoid covenanted lots in the interest of time and opportunity cost. Discharging a covenant requires a court application opposed by neighbors. High covenant participation rates deter multiplex developers. Even with gaps, block-wide coverage shields streets from multiplex buildings. It boosts long-term value by protecting neighbourhood character and lifestyle; e.g., Old Glenora's 100-year covenant made their community highly desirable and valuable.
Cons: It's a restriction on land title and excludes 4-plexes. It potentially reduces flexibility for developers. Some homeowners may worry that it could impact resale by curbing certain projects in the short term. Not everyone will sign, potentially weakening the effectiveness of the covenant.
No, The Westmount covenant aligns with the City’s Land Use Bylaw, which permits single detached and semi-detached dwellings, duplexes, triplexes, rowhouses, and suites. Our covenant simply narrows the options under the Zoning Bylaw and District plans.
Covenants last indefinitely unless an expiration date is included. Registered on land titles, they bind the land and future owners until modified or discharged by all covenant holders or by court order. Westmount's Covenant has a 75-year term, providing robust long-term stability as newer homes age and older homes are renovated or replaced.
Legal fees are $250 per property, covering title search, document preparation, signing procedures, covenant registration and related expenses. Signing after the Covenant is registered will be expensive, unless you are a lawyer and can register it legally yourself.
Any signatory (individual or group) can enforce via court application, seeking an injunction against non-compliant builds. A legal defense fund could help support this, although Westmount homeowners do not have one at this point in time. Enforcement success is high; courts typically uphold covenants, deterring developers.
If a property owner with a covenant applies to the Court to have the covenant removed, other neighbours who have signed onto the covenant can oppose that application.
If property owners with a covenant do not defend their property, developers might choose to proceed with a multiplex project. Those who are willing to defend their covenant will cause developers to invest elsewhere. The success rate of covenants is high as most covenants are upheld by the Courts.
The City has no jurisdiction over covenants on land titles. Covenants are private contracts, designed to meet the minimum requirements of the Zoning Bylaw.
Edmonton examples include Old Glenora (Carruthers Caveat), Westbrook, Hardisty, Rio Terrace and Crestwood. Glenora, Laurier Heights and Aspen are among those currently pursuing the implementation of a covenant.
The opposite occurred in Old Glenora, where a similar 100-year covenant enhanced value and stability in lifestyle. An effective covenant will protect the single family home.
A heritage designation protects your house, not the land. Designations and zoning (e.g., Direct Control on WAHA 125th/126th vs. RS elsewhere) are City-controlled and changeable without consent from homeowners. The Westmount Covenant provides lasting protection.
Your new home won't be "new" in 30–40 years, and without the covenant’s 75-year shield, your lot could be combined with a neighbour's lot for a massive 16–24-suite apartment. Everyone counts in creating stability in terms of value and lifestyle. It's a community commitment that keeps developers away. Developers don’t want their project held up in court. Delays are costly in terms of interest charges and lost revenue.
You can start a lot splitting application quite easily, but to complete the process officially, you have to remove the house. Once removed, the split lots can be put on the market separately. They don’t have to be serviced lots to sell. Recent sales indicate that two split lots command a better price in total than the original full-size lot.
Your house doesn’t stay new over the long term and the Westmount Covenant helps protect the neighbourhood for several generations to come. As far as the present is concerned, signatories across the alley and on the other side of the street protect your block. Covenant participation preserves the whole neighborhood and full block coverage makes your street untouchable for multiplexes and makes it highly attractive for new home buyers.
You sign to maintain the character of your neighbourhood for future residents, possibly including your offspring. It leaves the door open for building two skinnies with additional secondary suites, potentially replacing your full size 50x140 lot with 6 dwellings, providing homeowner managed rental income. All of it in line with the City’s long term population growth objective to double Edmonton’s population by 2045.
Developers could assemble unsigned adjacent lots for larger multiplexes, e.g. 16-plex apartments. Your signature protects your lot and sponsors the momentum to achieve full coverage of your block. It may incentivize your nenighbours too.
Under the Westmount Covenant, duplexes are excluded on full size lots, if the lot is part of the Covenant. Under the Covenant, a duplex can only be built on two split lots.
The Westmount Covenant prevents triplexes, if the property is signed up on the Covenant.
The Westmount Covenant is restricting the use of a lot to 1 – 3 dwellings on a full-size lot or on each split lot. None of the elected officials talk about anything less than four dwellings per lot, hence leaving the door open to 4 Row House apartments with secondary suites (i.e. 8-plexes).
Developers already submit multiplex building plans to the City’s Planning Department as 4-plexes with secondary suites. City planners and investment developers will argue that they are already building 4-plexes and nothing needs to change.
None of the City officials talk about the densification success that homeowners achieved over the last 15 to 20 years with renovation, infill, skinnies, secondary suites and garden suites.
No, the Westmount Covenant automatically binds both new lots, requiring no further registration.