A massive housing development in southeast Calgary, meant to be near a Green Line LRT station, is still moving forward despite the project’s sudden derailment.
It’s one of several developments planned along the city’s alignment for the Green Line, which was shortened due to cost pressures and then put in limbo when the Government of Alberta pulled its funding for the project last week.
The development would sit on 15 acres of vacant city-owned land east of Riverbend with plans to build up to 600 units to be home to an estimated 1,100 people.
However, the proposal has been contentious for many residents in the area, renewed with the uncertainty surrounding the Green Line.
“They claim this whole development was for the Green Line and for the CTrain station,” Riverbend resident Jason Wingate said. “Now that’s not happening.”
Frustration amongst nearby residents is largely driven by impacts in the neighbourhood required to accomodate the development, including the full opening of a dead-end road to traffic, the removal of on-street parking, and the loss of front lawn space to widen the road.
Residents had advocated to have the road opened to transit and emergency vehicles only, but the Calgary Planning Commission opted for the road to accomodate all traffic.
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Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner directed administration to review the traffic impacts on the neighbourhood and minimize disruptions to the area.
The news the province had pulled its funding for the Green Line has only soured some residents further.
“I think part of it was people were hoping their property values might go up a little just for proximity to a Green Line that was going to take people downtown,” Wingate said.
“Maybe we’d get a little bump in property value, but now we’re just going to get the traffic.”
According to Penner, who represents the area, the site is still worth developing even with the Green Line in limbo.
“There is still transit proximal, it is still really well connected into the road network, near places of employment, near existing schools and amenities,” she told reporters Tuesday. “Even if you remove the Green Line from the equation, the site within the established areas of our city is still well situated to develop for housing.”
Trees have been removed from the site to prepare the area for development, and a city timeline provided to residents shows construction is scheduled to begin next summer.
Penner said evaluation of the traffic impacts would take time with more analysis to begin once development permit applications are submitted.
“As development applications come forward, they will be reviewed against the traffic impacts,” Penner said. “Parking will get evaluated based on current and or future transit situation, which we may know more.”
Mayor and Premier meet over Green Line
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek confirmed she and members of city administration met virtually with Premier Danielle Smith and the provincial government on Monday evening to discuss the Green Line.
It comes after a letter was sent by Transportation minister Devin Dreeshen last week announcing the province’s intention to pull its funding, and seek a new alignment that reached more south Calgary neighbourhoods within the $6.2 billion budget.
“The premier reiterated that their desire is to get from Seton up to the event centre and then figure out how to tie in the blue and red lines,” Gondek told reporters Tuesday. “It was reiterated that they are not interested in tunnels downtown, so we’re in the same place.”
In a statement, Smith’s office said the premier “reaffirmed that she remains committed to the project and a new above-ground alignment that will benefit more Calgarians” during her meeting with Gondek.
City council voted last week to explore costs and implications of winding down the Green Line project and handing management of the build to the provincial government. That information and a decision on how to move forward is expected at a council meeting on Sept. 17.
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