Development Pressures Altering Community Character
by Robert Jobst, Vice President
We are experiencing a time of extreme development pressure in Cliff Bungalow-Mission. And with the imminent passage of the West Elbow Local Area Plan, the City will be upzoning areas of our community to accommodate even greater density. With new developments we too often lose our heritage buildings, and with them the character that makes this community so special. And, as residents in the southern blocks of Cliff Bungalow can attest, few things can change your quality of life so dramatically as having a tower constructed next door.
101-109 17 Avenue SW (Economy Glass Site)
A developer is applying for a land use redesignation to allow for a mixed-use project with ground floor retail and residential units above. This will likely involve a tower, but if their application is approved, we likely won’t see building details until some point next year. This is in a zone identified by the City of Calgary in the new draft Local Area Plan to accommodate buildings of up to 26 storeys.
121 17 Avenue SE
A block east on 17 Avenue a land use redesignation has been submitted to the City to enable a six-storey multi-residential development with retail at grade. This looks to be a case of “sensitive densification” that would be a good fit for our community, filling in a relatively underutilized lot and helping to improve the 17 Avenue streetscape as you approach Macleod Trail.
101 25 Avenue SW
There is a plan to redevelop the site of the Shorecrest Manor apartment building at the far eastern edge of Mission along 25 Avenue right before crossing over the bridge to Erlton. This is a difficult site due to the lack of a back alley and its proximity to the river. We’ll report more details of this project as details become available.
615 17 Avenue SW
The strip mall, residential bungalows, and a small apartment building immediately east of Western Canada High School have now been razed to make way for the 16-storey Francesco’s mixed-use project. This project was not supported by the CBMCA, but the writing was on the wall when the City of Calgary rezoned the property to allow for a building of that scale.
1905 5 Street SW
Construction continues on Truman Homes’ five-storey 1905 College condo project. This development, while coming at the cost of a number of older homes, is at least of the scale and quality we look for in new projects of this type.
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