A Calgary committee held its collective nose in recommending that city council move forward with a surface alignment along 10 Avenue SW to get the $6.25 billion Green Line into the downtown.

Councillors got a presentation at the Sept. 8 Executive Committee meeting that reviewed the three options, which were made public last week.

There were two elevated options and one surface option presented, with the latter being the only one that met all conditions and stayed within the funding envelope.  Green Line team members said that under the current funding framework, any cost overruns would have to be covered by the City of Calgary.

Ward 4 Coun. DJ Kelly moved the motion at the meeting, saying that he often tells his kids that you may not get the perfect option, but you have to choose the best option available.

“The fact that we’re a little bit negative on some of the things, like oh, ‘we wish this,’ or oh, ‘that’s too bad, but by approving this here today and moving this on to council, we have a full Green Line,” he said.

“We know where it starts. We know where it ends. That is the first time that we’ve been able to say that in 40 years.”

Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule added an amendment that would bring forward capital costs for the full Max Green Bus Rapid Transit from Keystone Hills to the Downtown, including a downtown BRT loop and station.  Ward 8 Coun. Nathan Schmidt added an amendment to ensure there was a clear public realm and interface plan for the surface line.

Both were approved as part of the overall motion.

Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean, who said last week that he favoured the surface option, quoted a Rolling Stones song in his debate.

“Well, it’s not perfect, but I used to tell my kids that this wise old philosopher Mick Jagger would say, ‘You can’t always get what you want, but you can ask sometimes, you might find you get what you need,” he said.

It’s time to lay down more transit: Mayor Farkas

Several advocacy groups had come forward showing support for the surface level option, if one of those options had to move forward.

Calgary Transit Riders, in a press release issued on Tuesday morning, said the surface option provided the best balance of cost, constructability, transit access and urban integration.

“Calgarians have waited decades for the Green Line, and we need to make sure the decisions being made today don’t limit what the system can become tomorrow,” said Alex Williams, President of Calgary Transit Riders.

“The Green Line needs to be more than a project connecting southeast Calgary to downtown. It needs to be the foundation of a city-wide north-south rapid transit network.”

Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson said that this was really the only option that could be considered.

“Anything elevated in downtown is a downtown killer. We’ve can see it in other cities; It’s bad for tax productivity. It’s bad for safety. It goes against everything that we are doing within our downtown to actually build this place up to make sure that this is a place that people want to use transit to come to,” he said.

Mayor Farkas said there will always be reasons to delay the downtown Green Line option; now was the time to move forward.

“I will admit that this is the first time I will actually vote to support the Green Line, and what I will say is that there will always be a reason that we can come up with to delay, but there’s not going to be any time where it’s cheaper to build,” he said.

“So really, our job right now is to build as much useful transit as possible within the envelope that we have available to us.”

The final vote will be held at an upcoming full meeting of council.