No news really but there is something happening with Westbrook.
Multi-family developments continue to spring up around the Westbrook LRT station, except on the property the city owns, and the area councillor said it’s disappointing. Last week, Calgary city councillors approved a revised land-use at the Feb. 17 Public Hearing Meeting of Council on a property...
livewirecalgary.com
In a response to an inquiry by LWC, the City of Calgary said that it is hoping to reimagine the parcel with new site uses, a new site design, and a development scheme that meets the current market trend for the area.
“A planning and design consultant has been hired and is currently in Phase 1 of their work. This phase is exploratory to understand the current realities of the site and what can be changed to see development realized on the land,” read an email response.
“Conceptual design, public engagement, formal planning applications, and municipal planning approval will follow in subsequent phases in 2026.”
Sounds like there's thought to the idea of leveraging other levels of government and an affordable housing partner to spur some development.
Farkas said that the City of Calgary can’t wait for another 15 years to pass before something is done. He said a long-term comprehensive plan for the site is good, but one that can be developed in phases.
“I think we’re now in a moment in time where there’s capital at play with the federal government, provincial governments as well, where if the city is in for a part of it, at least from an affordable housing standpoint, that could reduce the barrier to entry for some of our private sector partners,” Farkas said.
Also, a bit of tease of rethinking a city department's mandate.
“I also think that we need to take a look at what the long-term overall benefit is for our Real Estate and Development Services (RE&DS) internally, they’re not really tasked with the big picture questions of placemaking, what’s best for the city overall,” Farkas said.
“They’re looking at just the dollars and cents of the land portfolio from a financial investment standpoint. They aren’t looking at the other harder to quantify, but still very visible measures like placemaking, like vibrancy, public safety.
“Given I have a little bit of bias here, but Westbrook station is the station I get on for my regular commutes in on the train, I think there’s a demand from the community to move faster on investments like this, because it helps tackle some of the safety challenges that Calgarians are experiencing.”
Something to watch, guess we'll watch for the public engagement.
renx.ca
