City council rejects Glenmore Landing development proposal

City council has rejected a developer's plans for a major expansion at the Glenmore Landing shopping centre in southwest Calgary.

The decision comes after council heard a variety of opinions about the proposed highrise development from several dozen Calgarians during a public hearing that was split into multiple days this week due to the volume of speakers.

Opponents expressed concerns about density and traffic, as well as fears about what the development could do to the surrounding environment considering its proximity to the Glenmore Reservoir. 

Meanwhile, proponents cited the development's proximity to transit and other amenities, as well as Calgary's need for more housing amid a strained market and population boom.

The proposal was defeated 8-6, with councillors Kourtney Penner, Jasmine Mian, Evan Spencer, Courtney Walcott, Gian-Carlo Carra and Mayor Jyoti Gondek all in favour of the proposal.

Kevin Taylor, a member of the Palliser Bayview Pumphill Community Association, said residents of the area want what he called "responsible development."

"I can tell you that council got it right, they listened to the citizens," Taylor told reporters at city hall.

"We're not opposed to development. We want responsible development that's going to protect, we say our drinking water, but our park, our reservoir park."

The development plan — proposed by RioCan, which also owns the nearby shopping plaza — was to build six mixed-use highrises along the sides of 14th Street and 90th Avenue S.W., just south of Heritage Park, adding over 1,100 residential units in the coming decades. 

It comes after council approved plans to sell some city-owned green spaces to RioCan earlier this year. The 5.48 acres (2.22 hectares) of land is along the east and south of the shopping plaza, parallel to 14th Street and 90th Avenue S.W. However, the sale has not been completed. 

The proposal was part of RioCan's desire to use that land and expand its redevelopment over the next 10 to 15 years.

Taylor says he expects RioCan to refine its plans and come back with another, smaller proposal.

Council divided on plan

Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp, who originally supported the land sale in January, said during the debate portion of Thursday morning's council meeting that she would not vote in favour of the proposal. 

"RioCan, I'm a big fan of yours, you did a fantastic job in Brentwood, and I know there's more to come," said Sharp.

"I hope you still continue to build in Calgary, I know you will, but we do need to listen to our communities. And with that, I will not be supporting this."

Following the debate, Ward 11's Penner — the city councillor representing the area in question — said she was "deeply disappointed" in her council colleagues.

"All of the answers to all of your debate were there. You've had a chance to meet with the applicant, with administration, on this file," she said. 

"We heard from Coun. McLean and Coun. Chabot through budget about how the private market could do TOD [transit-oriented development] better.… We can't talk about an underutilized BRT and then not put people where it is."

Debate over transit-oriented development

Some councillors, however, argued this development plan was not transit-oriented.

Among those who voted no was Coun. Dan McLean. He says the proposal's rejection is a victory for the community, adding he was happy council listened to those who came to speak at the public hearing. 

"This was just too much density in a small area," the Ward 13 representative told reporters following the vote. 

"It's not, in my opinion, transit-oriented design because it's not a CTrain, it's a bus stop." 

Ward 14's Peter Demong shared similar thoughts on the proposal.

"I'm not really agreeing with this even being a TOD. To me, it's simply an extravagant bus stop," he said.

However, Gondek says several councillors who voted against citywide rezoning earlier this year said that decision was because they'd prefer to see private sector builders put housing density next to transit stations. 

Yet after this development plan was defeated, Gondek says she doesn't understand why they voted against a proposal she believes would do exactly that.

"I don't know what they want," Gondek told reporters at city hall on Thursday afternoon. 

"They've sent a very clear signal to the market that we don't want your private sector money, we don't want the millions of dollars you're going to be investing into infrastructure. I guess they'd rather have us do that, which means they're actually going to charge taxpayers more for infrastructure that the private sector was willing to contribute to. Bizarre decision."

Water worries

Dozens of residents in the community who criticized the proposal during this week's public hearing feared the additional density would pose a threat to the nearby reservoir's drinking water, along with other environmental issues.

During the debate, Coun. Jennifer Wyness said that because of those concerns around water, she would vote against the proposal.

"What we have to factor in is we are building and densifying around our water resource," said Wyness, councillor for Ward 2.

"Our water is something that we have to be very mindful and concerned about."

Following the proposal's rejection, when asked about the water-related worries, Penner said the application to build the highrises met all its necessary goals and that the area does have the capacity needed to take on the development.

"We had residents actively campaign on disinformation.… My colleagues failed to listen to the answers from our, what should be, respected and trusted professionals," said Penner. 

"Our water services team takes our water quality very, very seriously ... we have elected officials who are not standing up for professionals, and that is the demise of good governance."