City Council's Direction
In April 2017, City Council directed City staff to make changes to how Pawn Shops are regulated in the Zoning Bylaw. Council also asked City staff to prepare a report that investigates the social, economic and land use impacts that pawn shops have on the surrounding neighbourhoods and citizens.
Project Stage
This project is currently at the draft amendment stage.
City staff began conducting research into the effects of pawn shops over the summer of 2017 to better understand the variety of perspectives on pawn shops. City staff has focused its research into three streams:
- Land Use Impacts
- Economic Impacts
- Social Impacts
City staff are exploring these aspects through:
- A literature review of municipal and academic findings on impacts related to pawn shops
- Discussions with key stakeholders, including business owners and service providers
- Quantitative data such as neighbourhood income levels, crime data, and business licence and development permit statistics
The full report will be presented to Urban Planning Committee on October 2, 2018 (Items 6.3 and 6.4), and includes recommendations based on this research and feedback received through the public engagement process.
Public Engagement
The City of Edmonton is committed to citizen engagement. The pawn shops project contains several opportunities for public input.
As part of our research, the City conducted a survey in June 2018 to collect feedback from business owners and/or operators about how pawn stores may influence other businesses. This input will help us better understand the influence of pawn shops on businesses and what initiatives or regulations for pawn shops make the most sense.
A What We Heard Report summarizing the feedback we received through our public engagement activities throughout the information gathering is included in the report (CR_4754 - Attachment 4, Item 6.3)
Engagement activities completed include:
- Insight Community Survey - over 1,600 responses received
- Project webpage survey - over 200 responses received
- In-person interviews with key stakeholders, including community service providers, pawn shop owners, users of pawn shops and representatives from the business communities where pawn shops are located