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Project developers say their vision will improve an area that has already seen significant suburban development
Posted on Jan 16, 2023 • 4 min read
5 comments Map of the proposed development at 12 Mile Coulee and Highway 1A. Supplied by Protecting Bearspaw
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After six years of resistance, critics of the planned Bearspaw residential-retail development on Calgary’s northwest border are preparing for what could be their final battle against it.
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But the project’s developers say their vision will improve an area that has already seen significant suburban sprawl.
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Critics say building 883 residential units and 50 acres of individual pod-style retail space on 725 acres of sloping farmland at the southwest corner of Highway 1A and 12 Mile Coulee Road is too big and dense and would destroy the countryside. residential character of the Rocky View District area that borders Calgary’s Tuscany Subdivision.
“We’re not against development, we know it’s going to be developed,” said Brent Fermaniuk of the group Protecting Bearspaw.
“But this plan will significantly change the fabric of life in our community and change the quality of life. . . I don’t feel like we’ve been heard in the last few years.
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The Opposition Councilor receives public feedback
Residents were alerted by Rocky View County several weeks ago of a public comment period on the proposal, which ended last Friday.
The Rocky View Council voted 6-3 in September 2021 to approve the conceptual outline of the plan. A possible final council green light — a vote to repurpose the land — is likely in the fall, said Rocky View County Coun. Samantha Wright.
She said the file has become one of the most controversial she has seen in her time as a local MP.
“My phones are ringing off the hook and my email is lighting up,” said Wright, who voted against the proposal in 2021.
“Based on the feedback I’ve gotten, people are not very happy.”
While Wright insisted she could not decide how she would vote before the proposal is discussed again by the council, she said “we have to ask ourselves, ‘what is our identity?'”
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The developer dismisses the concerns raised
Concerns range from disruption of a wildlife corridor, overcrowding of certain schools by new residents, higher housing density than typical for the area, additional sewage and increased congestion, Fermaniuk said.
“It’s a complete ambush — we already have challenges getting on and off 12 Mile Coulee Road,” he said.
He also questioned why a project of this size could be approved before the promised site structure plan was completed.
“I don’t know how a proposal like this can be brought forward. . . we want a more defined plan for the structure of the area,” Fermaniuk said.
But executives at developer Highfield Land Management say the plan is designed to integrate with the local landscape and existing neighborhoods, with residential densities lower than neighboring Calgary.
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They say many of those opposed to it already live in subdivisions that have changed the rural landscape.
“The land they’re all living on was once raw land that they’ve come across — they’re living in a house that was once on land in this (rural) state,” said Dennis Inglis, the company’s lead designer.
Concept approved by Rocky View County, Calgary, CRMB
He and Highfield President Adrian Munroe said they are exploring improvements at the intersection of Crowchild Trail and 12 Mile Coulee Road, which have never been improved, to accommodate new subdivisions to the south, such as Watermark.
And they note that the concept behind their plan has already been approved by the county, City of Calgary officials and the Calgary Metropolitan Regional Board (CRMB), which can veto development in areas surrounding the city.
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Munroe said, “Unfortunately, the (opposed) residents haven’t done their homework.”
A large grocer will likely account for some of the retail space — “they see this as an underserved market,” Inglis said.
But critics also point to a process in 2021 that involved a representative of Highfield Land Management and then-Mayor Nahid Nenshi crafting objections the city had to the project in hopes of overcoming CRMB’s opposition.
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County board members, including Wright, said it was a backroom deal that bypassed them, although Nenshi indicated at the time that she and her colleagues ultimately voted for the proposal.
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Those advisers said Highfield made concessions, mainly including an agreement to fund transit and road improvements, particularly on the Crowchild Trail and 12 Mile Coulee Road, that sweetened the deal for Calgary.
Munro, of Highfield, said his company agreed to a study, while Nenshi in 2021 said the city only had Calgary’s interests at heart.
“We actually did it, so as far as I’m concerned it has to work because Rocky View County doesn’t care about what a city of 1.4 million people requires,” Nenshi said.
Bearspaw Ascension, a subdivision and commercial area proposed by Highfield Land Development on the outskirts of northwest Calgary. Photo by Highfield Land Development
Not everyone living near the proposal opposes it, with some posts on the Protecting Bearspaw Facebook page welcoming more commercial amenities and accusing critics of the county, which uses shopping centers and infrastructure in Calgary, of hypocrisy.
“With a new mall in your community, maybe many of you Calgary workers could get jobs there and stop adding to the congestion (on) Calgary streets during the morning and evening rush hours,” one person wrote.
“Stop working in Calgary using our roads and services five days a week without paying a dollar in taxes to pay for them.”
Munro, of Highfield, said if Rocky View County gives its final approval, they hope to begin clearing and grading the site in 2024.
BKaufmann@postmedia.com
Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn
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