Nearly 2,700 submissions were collected with most opposing the sale of park space adjacent to a planned redevelopment of Glenmore Landing in southwest Calgary.

City administration is still recommending that 5.48 acres of frontage along both 90 Avenue and 14 Street SW next to the busy strip mall be sold to the proposed developer Rio Can, when the item comes to an Infrastructure and Planning committee meeting this week.

The land sale is one of the first stages of a contentious area redevelopment that would see a potential six towers and between 2,000 and 3,000 new residents in the area. The green space in question lines the southern and eastern boundaries of the property.

What muddies the issue is a 1983 Park Agreement between the City of Calgary and then-owner IntraWest Properties.

“In 2023 August, Administration was notified of an agreement registered on title to the Shopping Centre lands, regarding the use and maintenance of the Property (the “Agreement”),” the city admin report reads.  

“In the Agreement the Property is referred to as “Park Land”, and goes further to say, “the City undertakes to utilize the Park Lands only for park purposes”, creating ambiguity as to the Property’s designation.”

Attach 5 – Park Agreement -… by Darren Krause

Still, the admin report goes on to say that under the Municipal Government Act, if the city wants to dispose of a piece of park land, it must advertise the sale. The City said it did so in the Calgary Herald on six occasions between Oct. 5, 2023 and Nov. 11, with a public submission deadline of Nov. 20.

In that time, 2,698 public responses were received.

“The majority of the responses received were in opposition of the proposed sale as an enabler to the proposed redevelopment; two separate and distinct processes,” the city report read.

Opposition to the plan

The City acknowledged the public response, noting the primary opposition was around a lack of a public hearing on the item, the selling of parkland in a climate emergency, the impact of that many residents in the area, and the traffic impact.

“Traffic. Wild life. [sic] Water. Birds. These are my most worried about things. The strip of land you are proposing to sell for potential condo type dwellings will ruin this space,” wrote Amber Davies in the public submissions that were included in the agenda package.

“Right now, Glenmore Landing is good at best with all the current neighborhoods [sic] that feed it to it. If councilors approve continue [sic] this land sale, for the purposes of building housing it will ruin the community.”

The city said that the response to the land sale was directly connected to residents opposing the area’s redevelopment, again noting concerns about the impact of the development and not the park space itself.

“The existing space provides a recreational hub and activity hub for a number of communities in the area. It also encourages people to walk, or ride byclces [sic] to do shopping or access medical services,” wrote Michael Mohammed.

“Not only is this good for the environment, it’s good for encouraging healthy practices especially as elderly community homes are in the area. I think a massive development on the land is a very short-sighted idea. Developments like this should be done closer to major transit hubs to encourage better green practices in the city.”

It’s worth noting the proposed development has direct access to the MAX Yellow BRT, which uses 14 Street SW as its spine. It connects with the MAX Teal BRT, which directly lands at Heritage LRT station.  

To address one of the issues – a public hearing – Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner said she wanted to see the land sale on the committee agenda. She said normally this kind of item would go straight to council for consideration, without a hearing.

“There was a thought to actually not put it on Infrastructure and Planning Committee agenda and I said, ‘well, that’s not what the public’s been talking about. That’s not what we’ve been told,’” Penner told LiveWire Calgary.

Land sale: Not about the park space, it’s about the development: Coun. Penner

The land sale was first broached in 2015, with a notice of motion by then-Ward 11-councillor Brian Pincott. That motion directed the city and the “owner of the Glenmore Landing Shopping Centre” lands to create a comprehensive plan for redevelopment, including a potential sale of the park lands.

The parcel of land is currently zoned S-CS (Special Purpose – Community Service District) and would need to go through a land use change. (Consequently, that step would also require a public hearing at Calgary city council.)

S-CS designation allows for a variety of permitted and discretionary uses, including as a park, natural area or recreation area, but also for schools, child care services, food kiosks, libraries, museums, etcetera.   

The pleas to keep the park space are a red herring for the true matter at hand, which is community opposition to the development, Coun. Penner said. She said there’s intense opposition to any sort of redevelopment of that area, even though there’s already been some changes to building heights proposed. There may be further changes, too. But, to wedge the idea of saving a park into the conversation is misleading, Penner said.

“People don’t use it like a park space. It doesn’t feel like a park space. It doesn’t function like a park space. I’m waiting for the compelling arguments, for people to tell me, what are those; how does it actually function like a true park,” she said.

“If they want it to stay a park, what are the amenities that they want to see in here? Because I haven’t heard. I’ve just heard ‘don’t do anything. Leave it as is.’”

She said the space is isolated from the community. It’s trapped between two major roadways and a shopping centre.

“We’re never going to put a playground here and we’re not going to build a toboggan hill here,” she said.

“You know what, we can put benches, so you can watch the cars drive by. I mean, it doesn’t function well as a park space as is and I highly doubt that it will ever function well as a park space in the future.”

On the flip side, she said, it checks all the boxes for an ideal high-density development.

“When we look at all the other criteria around housing, and irregardless of the housing crisis, this is next to amenities and services, next to a major transit route, it is connected to a beautiful park,” Penner said.

“It makes sense to rethink the land to use for housing.”

If approved, the land sale would then move on to a full meeting of Calgary city council for final approval.