ECCA had a great turn out for our Annual General Meeting on May 28, 2024. Thank you to everyone who participated in the community by attending.
The business of the meeting was managed quickly, with the election of board members and reports from the President and Treasurer.
Eau Claire is Calgary’s smallest community with approximately 1,600 residents, and it’s important for us to band together to keep the city and developers on-track to create things that support us as a distinct residential neighbourhood.
ECCA’s primary mandates are ‘Review, Speak, and Gather.’
We review all development proposals submitted to the city and we stay on top of proposed projects coming to our neighbourhood.
We speak for our community perspective on everything that can impact our residents.
We gather to foster a sense of community and collegiality.
December 2023 saw the introduction of the extremely popular LobbyFest events. The ECCA, funded by Downtown Strategy Grants, hosted a series of small community events in the lobbies of various buildings.
Ice skating returned after our annual party had been sidelined, first by COVID and then by construction. We had a great turn out. The weather was good, and our volunteers did a terrific job.
In March, the ECCA hosted a meet and greet with Terry Wong.
Our volunteer base is small but we’re eager to add to our social events. If you have ideas and can provide a few volunteers to help, we’d love to hear from you.
Recently, we have been able to add ‘Placemaking’ to our mandate due to encouragement and funds from the City of Calgary.
In 2023, Calgary artist Sarah Slaughter commemorated our 30th anniversary as a community association with a colourful mural depicting the heritage of The Eau Claire Lumber Company from which we got our name. We are very grateful to the City of Calgary for funding this project through their Downtown Strategy Programming Funding.
This year, the ECCA has been busy with some major, multi-year projects:
We’ve learned over the years that we have the most impact early on in the projects. For that reason, we have already engaged with Greater Downtown Strategy about how Riverwalk West and the North Anchor Park (which is the north end of the 8 Street redevelopment project) and Lot 6 development will impact our Western Gateway and how we want to use placemaking and beautification funds to enhance the interface between Eau Claire and these public realm areas. Joyce Tang attended the AGM to discuss these projects, even though they are still very preliminary.
On the other side of the neighbourhood and the other end of construction, The Eau Claire Improvement Project is beginning to wrap up. We should see significant progress this year and hopefully completion next year. Dennis Hoffart was available to discuss the remaining work needed to complete the Plaza. (Note: The Bow Valley Lumber Company building has been moved to its’ forever-home.) See photos in this magazine.
ECCA remains concerned about how the interface of the Green Line and the Promenade and the River will look. We’ve spoken at length before about how this interface could impact the community when the project crosses the river and goes north. But our focus has recently become on how the “Temporary Northern Terminus” of the Green Line will look from the end of construction to the beginning of the next phase. Since that hasn’t been funded and the current Provincial government has stated they will not provide additional funding for the Green Line, the length of time that this could remain on hiatus is less and less certain. Adam Noble-Johnson, from the Green Line Team attended and responded to questions regarding timing and the design of the station. Proposals will be going before Council on June 18, so we hope for additional information at that time.
Eau Claire Market has closed; work to remove hazardous materials and secure the structure is underway. It will be demolished at a date to be determined. That land will be used as a staging area for the Green Line construction. I’m sure that when that’s complete, and plans can move forward with new development we’ll once again see representatives from Harvard Developments to discuss their plans for redevelopment.
One of the most common questions I’m asked by residents and downtown office workers is “what’s happening with the former YMCA building?” Alix Williams from the Eau Claire Athletic Club was on hand to definitively answer that question.
Our residents have expressed concerns about increased noise and security issues if events that formerly took place at the Olympic Plaza are moved to Lot 6 during the Olympic Plaza refurbishment period. Your ECCA has already begun to ask for more information about what may be moved and what additional security may be needed. Since our Community Resource officer, Cst. Arthur Rekshta was on secondment, his Sergeant, Carey Nelson gave us an update on policing and security.
Office to residential/hotel conversion are expected to improve the vitality and occupancy of the entire downtown area. There are currently five conversions approved for our area.
James Scott and Erika Jansen, PBA Group of Companies, Element Hotel, were on hand to talk about the office-to-hotel conversion at 833 4 Avenue SW.
We’ve reached out to all five developers, and while four of them weren’t ready to speak to us yet, they’ve committed to keeping us informed as soon as they can share information publicly.
Your ECCA is committed to gathering as much information as possible from all the developers and establishing positive relationships with them.
ECCA has had a strong relationship with the Ward 7 office for several years and it has only improved since Councilor Terry Wong was elected. He spoke to the assembled residents and gave a brief update on items before Council.
We’re very grateful for the generous time and support of all the folks mentioned above who came out to keep the community informed of everything that’s happening in our area. A special thank you to Dru Mohler, our Neighbourhood Partnership Coordinator from the City of Calgary. Dru is a regular participant at all our board meetings and is a core member of our team, helping us to liaise with all the various City agencies that provide services to communities. He also fielded several questions during the mingle and chat portion of the event.
Finally, I’d like to thank all the board members who worked hard all year to accomplish everything and who were out in force at the AGM. It’s a volunteer position that we don’t want to be a thankless one.
Click here to the Eau Claire Community News home page for the latest Eau Claire community updates.
