| As Calgary continues its steady sprawl in all directions, local planners, architects and community associations are grappling with ways to ease the burden on existing infrastructure and entice residents back to the inner city. Conversely, some Cliff Bungalow-Mission residents are fighting potential rezoning that could result in buildings of up to 12 storeys being erected in their already populous community. Where parties on both sides of the issue find common ground is in the need for the municipal government to create clearer development policies.
The physical size of Calgary is expanding daily. According to the latest measurements obtained from the city, Calgary has an area of 721 square kilometres. By comparison, greater New York City has a total area of 779.59 square kilometres. Tellingly, Calgary’s population has yet to reach the one million mark at 922,315, while New York’s is more than eight million (2003 census figures).
Don Shultz, a senior planner with Brown and Associates, a consulting firm that works closely with the City of Calgary, says westerners have a "don’t fence me in" mentality that is creating an urban monster.
"When it comes to urban sprawl in Calgary, we have a lot of psychological hurdles to overcome," he says. "People here say, ‘Give me room, give me lots of room and give my vehicle lots of room and don’t put anything in my way on the way to work.’"
While infrastructure was one of the hot-button issues in the last civic election, Shultz points out that the direction the city is heading in makes it impossible for the roads to keep up with the demand.
"The city has become very good at rolling out new suburbs. The city’s administration is tooled very efficiently for that sort of reporting. The development industry is very well organized for construction of single family homes on the periphery.
"We’re at the point where there’s some serious tradeoffs to be made," he says, noting that current thought patterns are part of the problem.
"I think it’s the cultural perception that we have. I’m not trying to let any players off the hook, but it is a general reflection of our culture that says we all aspire to live in that single family unit with at least one, often more than one, vehicle."
However, Shultz says there is a much more appealing alternative.
"I’m saying the inner city is where you want to be. There’s real value downtown. I think we need to make sure there is a broad range of housing choices in the inner city and elsewhere in Calgary."
Based on the new condos sprouting up around the inner city, more people are buying into that alternative.
Paul Battistella of Battistella Developments, the company behind the Orange and Chocolate condo developments, says his company and others are building to meet demand. "Most of those units are already sold," he adds.
He acknowledges that first-time homebuyers considering their options often choose the suburbs due to lower taxes and more living space for the dollar. However, he says there is a shift towards downtown among buyers who want to avoid long commutes.
"There is increased attention being paid to the inner city," he says. "But if you look at the growth rate percentages compared to the suburbs, it’s still a trickle."
For anyone who’s ever been squished in a packed C-train, or waited for several light changes on any of Calgary’s main traffic arteries, Cameron Gillies, an architect and member of the Beltline planning committee, says moving close to the city centre just makes sense.
"It baffles me when Calgarians continually cite building more roads as their number one issue. Without a doubt, we need to maintain road infrastructure, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of exploring more sustainable ways of development. Building more roads is not the long term solution to this."
Gillies also insists that creating higher-density developments in the inner city makes fiscal sense.
"You get more bang for your tax buck by there being more efficient use of municipally provided infrastructure. Think of it in terms of a sewer pipe. In the suburbs, let’s say per foot of sewer pipe there may be one-quarter person per foot of sewer pipe using that sewer pipe. Downtown, you might have five to 10 people using that one-foot of sewer pipe. That foot costs the same amount, but you’ve got so many more people buying into it that it becomes a much more effective collective way of living."
Living downtown isn’t just about saving the city money or easing the pressure on the roads – it’s about lifestyle and avoiding the ennui that proliferates in the suburbs, says Gillies. He’s also adamant that currently accepted development patterns are going to create more problems than solutions.
"I think given the alternative of sprawl, density is the best way to handle all concerns. We’re at a threshold right now where we need to decide how we want to develop in the future. We can either decide the right way or the wrong way. Continuing the way we’re going is the wrong way."
While advocates of high-density urbanism are encouraging the inner city to welcome development with open arms, not everyone is as keen.
Typically, lower income residents call the inner city their home, due in large part to inexpensive rent and the ability to get around easily. When the high-end condos move in, they are often forced to move.
Shultz says ultimately, improving those neighbourhoods will create a better quality of life for everyone, but he concedes that the city needs to revisit its development policies in regard to affordable housing.
"The city still has to have that serious debate with the (development) industry," he says, adding some solutions can be found in cities like Vancouver that have legislated affordable housing restrictions in new buildings. For example, when a new high-rise is erected, a certain percentage of suites have to be made affordable.
However, Shultz says it’s a sensitive topic for developers who may not consider it their role to provide that for the community.
"We’ve explored it as a possibility," says Battistella. But he says the industry is not ready to assume that responsibility. Battistella adds that condo affordability could create higher vacancy rates in apartment buildings, and he suggests using existing rental units to meet the need for affordable housing.
"There could be a program that provides vouchers for people to use that vacant product instead of forcing developers to build them into their new projects," he says.
High-density developments will also change the character of some existing communities, and not necessarily for the better. Rob Jobst, director of the Cliff Bungalow-Mission development committee, insists that rezoning currently under consideration by the city would swallow his neighbourhood. He points out the area, located south of 17th Avenue S.W. and extending east and west of Fourth Street, already has the highest zoning of any residential neighbourhood in Calgary at RM6, meaning six storeys is the limit, compared with RM2 in Kensington, which limits new developments to three storeys. According to Jobst, the city is pushing for RM12, thereby doubling the building capacity.
"The pattern of development really seems to be driven right now not by planning rationales but by what works for private developers," he says.
"What we’re wondering is, why does the city have a mandate to hyper-intensify the development in this one tiny community when there doesn’t seem to be a push to have anything that dense in any of the other inner-city communities, save for the Beltline. This community is not set up for that kind of density. Perhaps the Beltline is, but Mission is not."
Mission is home to the highest percentage of duplex and apartment dwellers in the city at 94.6 per cent as of the 2001 census. Jobst says that large number is creating a false impression that no one in the area cares about redevelopment.
"Just because we have a high percentage of renters doesn’t mean those people aren’t committed to the community and they’re not part of the community. I think it’s a perceptual problem in Calgary. I’m a renter and I’ve been a renter in this community for 14 years."
On the north side of 17th Avenue S.W., the attitude is decidedly warmer towards large-scale development.
Lucas Rojek, chair of the planning group for the Beltline Community Association, clearly embraces the idea of erecting high-density housing.
"Lifestyle, infrastructure and environment are three of the big reasons for promoting a more compact urban form," he says.
"This is where everything happens. In terms of economic development a lot of people you want to attract these days in a knowledge economy want to live in a more interesting place. The suburbs are boring." |
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