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.
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:
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:
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