A planned affordable seniors complex in the northwest Calgary community of Banff Trail has been scrapped after the properties it was meant to be built on were sold to another developer.
The change is despite council’s approval to alter the land-use designation of the land five years ago.
The properties were sold after the man who owned the land and had planned to develop it, Clarence Eckstrand, passed away.
The facility, which according to the developer’s plans would have housed more than 30 affordable housing units, was to be built on three lots just off 19 Street N.W.
The community had been opposed to the plan citing concerns with density, parking and the building’s height.
“You still need parking—visitor parking—and a lot of the seniors still, to get around, want their vehicle, too,” said Alfred Wright of the Banff Trail Community Association.
“He came across way to big, too strong for us and he didn’t really listen to the people in the community,” he added.
Councillor Druh Farrell said Thursday council had to vote in favour of the project despite valid concerns from residents.
”We can’t discriminate against a particular individual because we question their ability to follow through,” Farrell said. “So that’s the difficulty, is we have to look at whether the land use applies regardless of who owns it.”
Proponents of the planned senior’s complex had originally argued that a decision on land-use designation should be made immediately because of the urgency of the project. They said a $5-million provincial grant would be pulled if work didn’t quickly get underway.
But even after the city greenlighted the project, work stalled and the provincial funding was eventually withdrawn. It was finally terminated when Eckstrand’s estate sold the properties.
With files from Aurelio Perri
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