Glenmore Landing Proposal: It’s The Density and Scale; It’s Not NIMBY
by Gill Basford
Very high density and huge scale create significant concerns about this project – thousands more people and hundreds more cars in tall buildings on that corner will have major negative impacts on the community as a whole in so many ways. None of it adds up as a positive proposition for Palliser/Bayview/Pumphill, Haysboro, and other communities close by. There are so many issues with the RioCan plan for Glenmore Landing, all of them significant and together creating serious negative implications for people and community.
My family has lived in the Palliser/Bayview/Pumphill community for 35 years. This is a busy and beautiful area already shared by many people in many types of housing, it’s not NIMBY-ism that has so many of us worried. Within six blocks of Glenmore Landing there are already three high-rise residential towers, two walk-up residential complexes, three duplex villa complexes, one town home complex, two retirement residences and one nursing home. Go a couple more blocks and there are more apartments, villas, and townhomes plus a large new residential/commercial development coming on 24 Street. There are also single-family homes of all sizes and beautiful parkland, we live together with all types of homes and income levels. But there is a limit to what the community can hold.
Sustainability of air quality, drinking water, wastewater treatment, shade, and ice formation are significant worries with the addition of 6+ buildings at many stories high with many layers of parking underground. Birds, deer, and other wildlife struggle now with diminishing open space and harm to them would only increase.
Traffic congestion is a big worry already, especially caused by access and egress to the Glenmore Landing site. Since one entrance from 14 Street was cut off for the BRT, the two entrances on westbound 90 Avenue have become a major hazard as vehicles jockey for a space to enter and navigate the lot. The congestion is bad when entering or exiting, and parking is often nearly impossible now. Many people are avoiding the shopping centre already and it’s hard to imagine how it could possibly work with hundreds more cars coming, staying, and going daily. RioCan wants to increase the viability of the shopping centre, but there will be losses too as many people just won’t want to shop or visit there.
The corner is simply not suited to have construction going on for (more) years. During the construction of the highly underused BRT line and associate roadworks we were trapped on a traffic island of sorts, struggling to go to and from downtown or anything north of us. More years of construction for the ring road were a further disruption but at least we can get out to the north and west now. At the RioCan open house, one of the consultants made the absurd statement that the increased traffic congestion and realignment of roads around the new development would make it harder for out of community people to come through on 90 Avenue to get to the ring road, so it would be all the better to have thousands more people living at that corner!
Recreationally the area is heavily used now by people from all parts of the city; walking, running, biking, sailing, kayaking, or canoeing. There is limited capacity for increase, using the pathway on weekends has its own traffic jams and conflicts.
We do need more housing in this city, but we need more affordable housing at a people friendly scale. It was initially stated that this is a transit-oriented development plan but only a small percentage of the homes will be affordable, and with even one parking stall per unit it’s unlikely to increase transit usage by much.
If a thorough and objective environmental assessment showed it is feasible to build a residential project on the Glenmore Landing site, a lower and smaller housing complex would be much more acceptable from density, scale, traffic, environmental and people perspective.
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