CFB Calgary Redevelopment

October 24, 2008 | Updated: October 28, 2008 |

Update: a CBC story on this. I recently learned that the ex-CFB Calgary lands which house the Calgary Farmer's Market, Wild Rose Breweries and other things is (maybe?) going to be redeveloped. At least, the Calgary Farmer's Market's lease is not going to be renewed.

From: mike at mike dash warren dot com
To: themayor@calgary.ca, brian.pincott@calgary.ca, clc@clc.ca
Subject: CFB Calgary redevelopment
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:16:30 -0600
I have just recently heard that there are plans to demolish the buildings at ex-CFB Calgary which house the Calgary Farmer's Market (and Wild Rose?). An area like this, not far inside the City is rare: developing it into a vibrant public space would benefit the City far more than a few more townhouses (or condos or whatever the current plan is); adding more green space, maybe some Riley-Park-like features like play-space for kids, a wading pool, open field space for practicing, adding some live music venues, restaurants, bars, repaving some of the roads for bicycle racing...it wouldn't be hard to further cultivate a vibrant "public"-type space. Since there are already lots of people heading there to buy local food and goods, eat, visit Wild Rose Brewery, go to Film Festival events, special events like Cirque du Soleil, and so forth, further cultivating this into a more "Fair Grounds"-like area would be awesome. Turning it into another "Garrison Woods" barricaded subdivision will just kill it. We have lots of dead, not-vibrant subdivisions; we don't have lots of vibrant, interesting places for Calgarians to go to Turning the area into a pedestrian-friendly public space will further enhance this area of Calgary -- capitalizing on the fact that people already have good reasons to go there! This is a hard thing to "plan" but a relatively easy thing to foster once it's already happening. Of course, kill away if you must,

The Mayor's office claims they "can't" do anything. Of course, as the keepers of land-zoning and legislating in Calgary, they can do something if they want (well, they can't really say "give the farmer's market a new lease" but they sure can say "give us that land, we're making a park"). The refuse to make a park or anything else useful, not very surprisingly:

From: TheMayor@calgary.ca
To: mike at mike dash warren dot com
Subject: RE: CFB Calgary redevelopment
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 08:53:48 -0600
Dear Mr. Warren, Thank you for your recent e-mail to Mayor Bronconnier regarding the Calgary Farmer's Market at Currie Barracks. Mayor Bronconnier has had the opportunity to review your e-mail and has asked me to respond on his behalf. The City of Calgary is not the owner of Currie Barracks, and therefore does not have jurisdiction over this issue. I see that you have also forwarded your e-mail to the Canada Lands Company - the custodian of Currie Barracks - for their information and consideration. It is our understanding that no decision has yet been made regarding the future development of this area. Best regards, Leah Zilnik Executive Assistant Office of the Mayor, The City of Calgary #8069 P.O. Box 2100 Stn. M. Calgary, Alberta T2P 2M5 403-268-5622 (phone) 403-268-8130 (fax) For more news, sign up for Mayor Bronconnier's eNews at www.calgarymayor.ca

``The Canada Lands Company is an arms length, self-financing Crown Corporation reporting to Parliament through the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities,'' according to their Web site.

Sadly, they have a Mandate which seems at odds with the interests of the owners of the land: us.

``The mandate of Canada Lands Company Limited (CLCL), a non-agent federal Crown corporation is to ensure the commercially oriented, orderly disposition of surplus strategic real properties, optimizing financial and community value, and the holding of certain properties.'' (My emphasis). They add "community" as an afterthought: ``[CLCL] accomplishes this by purchasing strategic surplus properties from federal departments and agencies at fair market value, then improving, managing or selling them in order to produce the optimal benefit for the company's shareholder, the Government of Canada, and local communities.''

So, it seems likely that it'll be condos and townhouses spread as thickly as possible over the tiny bit of CFB Calgary left -- just like the horrible "Garrison Woods" crap. At least they got back to me:

From: mmccullo@clc.ca
To: mike at mike dash warren dot com
Subject: RE: CFB Calgary redevelopment
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:15:48 -0400
We are in receipt of your e-mail sent to our company web site. I have been asked to respond to your message regarding Canada Lands Company and the future of the Calgary Farmer's Market. Your comments and concerns have been duly noted and will be considered in our deliberations on this matter. Thank you for your input and interest in our Currie Barracks project. Mark McCullough General Manager, Real Estate / Directeur gnral, Immobilier Canada Lands Company CLC Limited Calgary / Socit immobilire du Canada CLC limite Calgary Tel / tl: (403) 292-6242 Fax / tl: (403) 292-6246 e-mail / courriel: mmccullough@clc.ca

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