Well… Maybe. Council recently approved plans and applications for several new communities, the majority of which extend beyond Stoney Trail. At CalgaryTranspo, we have mixed feelings about these communities as a whole. Individually however, some are very impressive, while others make us a little jittery. Today we’ll discuss some of the plans for these new communities from a services and transport standpoint. For now (and mostly for a lack of knowledge), we will ignore the market factors which will affect how quickly these new communities will fill up. We will assume the area plans go ahead as imagined, and will gain their desired populations. Firstly, let’s take a look at a map from CBC of the planned developments:





The planned communities, as you can see, extend very far out. What is even more surprising, is that another planned and approved community, Keystone, will be built over a huge area north of even the northernmost community (are we in Airdrie yet?!). Now, what is important to note, is that many of these communities aren’t planned for construction for several years. Suburbs already on the edges of town have yet to be filled out, including Nolan Hill, Sage Hill, Seton, and many northeast communities. Take a look at the map below:

Many of these communities will help contribute to the services of their neighbours. They will provide initial areas for city infrastructure to be housed, including transit hubs, fire and EMS stations, and neighbourhood services. Sage Hill and Redstone for example, have had fire stations built into those communities. These fire stations will help form part of the service network for communities in the northeast and northwest, south of 144 Ave. (disclaimer: we are not fire experts, and are purely positing these coverage areas). However, for almost all of the other communities, including Glacier Ridge, Haskayne, Belvedere, and Shepard, they will require their own emergency response centres to adequately cover their communities, owing to road barriers between existing response centres and the community borders.

Shepard:

Shepard is a development impressive in size, but perhaps not planning. Though the area structure plan for Shepard appears large, it is exacerbated by the existence of Ralph Klein Park, which is about a third of the size of Nose Hill Park. However, the community without the park is still huge. The planned developed portion of the site is equivalent to Whitehorn, Temple, Pineridge, and Rundle combined. This is also one of the developments with no rapid-transit connections planned by either the city or the developer. With western road access only to Stoney Trail (plenty of access to Chestermere), this will leave the community difficult to reach. Though interchanges will eventually be built at 138 Ave. over Stoney Trail, the timing and payment of these interchanges is uncertain. Without this interchange, the community will be several kilometers away from other activity centres, and existing interchanges at 88 Ave. SE and 114 Ave. will be throttled by the new development, as well as other development surrounding those connections. The presence of Stoney Trail is itself a major barrier to pedestrian movements between neighbouring communities. Here is a map of the location of the community:

Overall, we think that this community should not proceed as planned due to it’s distance from pretty much every essential city service, and the barrier created by Stoney Trail. We are satisfied with Council’s decision, for the time being, to recommend this development be put on hold.

Haskayne:

Haskayne is a community we have mixed feelings towards. The community will be far from all existing services, requiring the construction of it’s own, dedicated EMS/Fire facility, similar to Valley Ridge, and appears to contain a dense core with a significant amount of parkland. The proposal includes a large portion of greenspace for the community, and connects to the remainder of the city via 3 routes: an extension of Nose Hill Drive, upgrades to Bearspaw Dam Road, and an interchange at Crowchild Trail and Twelve Mile Coulee road. Surprisingly, no clear conceptual maps exist for this community, unlike other communities which have clear pictures of the transportation network. What the interchange at Twelve Mile Coulee Road and Crowchild Trail will look like is also unknown. What we do like however, is that the development is approximately between three major roadways, Crowchild Trail, Stoney Trail, and 16th Ave., leaving residents with multiple exits from the community. Despite not being located on a rapid transit corridor, we are also satisfied with the potential options that exist, combined with Calgary Transit’s planned primary transport network, for transit service. One route could see a redistribution of service in the Tuscany area, with a direct route into the community from the Tuscany LRT station. Alternatively, modifications to existing services could ultimately have a route running from Crowfoot LRT station and the community services in that area into the activity centre of the community. The relatively dense nature of the community will also help, as current images appear to show a primary transit corridor, with only two side streets on each side. The community will also be well connected to the pathway system via Nose Hill Drive and Twelve Mile Coulee park. Overall, we give the community a passing grade due to its dense-ish nature, and good connections to a variety of existing roads, none of which are at capacity today. Our only concerns stem from the lack of detailed description of what upgrades to the road network may look like, as well as the need for the construction of city services to that area of Calgary.

Belvedere and Providence

We can talk about these two communities together. Belvedere and Providence, though on opposite sides of the city, are very similar. Both envision developer-built transitways through the centre of the communities, containing activity centres and dense residential and commercial properties. Both are also planned out with a grid-system in mind, keeping the areas easy to serve via transit.

Looking at the road networks of the two communities, Providence appears to have access primarily to the Southwest Ring Road, with future intersections at 154th Ave. and 162nd Ave. An intersection is also planned for the 22X, helping residents leave the city. Long-term plans by Calgary Transit to fully build a transitway along 162nd Avenue as the southwest continues to build out will further support transit in the deep southwest as a whole. Though not stated in the development plans, we strongly suspected the developer will not finance the construction of the transitway between 162nd Avenue and Somerset-Bridlewood station. Though it is unclear from documents if the community will be complete prior to RouteAhead’s 30 year timeline, should completion occur before then, there will be an increased need for the full completion of the transitway ahead of schedule, as additional southwest communities are constructed and filled.

In Belvedere, transit is similarly staged, with RouteAhead simply outlining in “beyond long-term,” plans to convert the transitway to rail and extend to Chestermere. Where in this timeline the transitway is extended to 116th St. SE is unknown. Appropriately in our opinion, the transitway will first be extended further towards the Green Line LRT and downtown. The road network in Belvedere should also ultimately be beneficial, with connections to Memorial Drive, 16th Ave, and 17th Ave. Plans include provisions for the extension of Memorial Drive and construction of a new flyover across Stoney Trail. Who will pay for this? We can’t say for certain, but based on how plans to build a new interchange at Deerfoot and 212th Ave. are playing out, we surmise it to be a combination of the city, the province, and the developer. However, the need for this interchange should be alleviated by strong connections of other roads and rapid transit.

Artist’s rendition of the Belvedere transitway

Both communities will require their own emergency response service centres and other public services like schools, libraries, and recreation centres owing to their distance to the remainder of the city. Overall, looking at the transport network of the community, we are quite impressed with these two developments, and are happy to see they have been green-lighted by council.

Rangeview

From the map of approved communities, we were initially disappointed to see Rangeview approved due to it’s location in the deep south, well beyond Stoney Trail. However, upon closer inspection, the community actually appears to be well planned for movement. Located adjacent to the current Seton development, residents are given easy access to an intense employment hub. Housing the South Health Campus and a host of retail and office spaces, it is expected many of the residents of Rangeview will work in the neighbouring community. The community will also be attached to the Green Line via Seton and South Health Campus LRT stations, contributing to strong transit access for residents.

Looking at the road network, the community as a whole will be well-connected, with planned or existing interchanges to Deerfoot Trail at 212 Ave. and Seton Boulevard. 52nd Ave. will bisect the community, and 88 Ave, a skeletal road with an interchange at Stoney Trail several kilometres to the north will be the eastern community border. Community roads will also form a grid, making for efficient road and transit networks.

Further adding to the strength of the community is the planned density, with residential towers planned near the South Health Campus and Seton LRT stations, and McKenzie Towne-esque density throughout much of the remaining community. This density will help contribute to the success of modes other than driving, and will also add to Seton becoming an employment, retail, and transportation hub.

Somewhat surprisingly (though again, we are not fire experts), a fire station will have to be built for this development despite the existence of the Seton Fire Station closer to Deerfoot Trail. Overall however, the development appears surprisingly self-sufficient, with limited additional transit, road, and service capacity required. It’s developing neighbours, Mahogany and Seton, have contributed to most of the existing infrastructure.

Glacier Ridge

The last community represented in the map of approved communities, is Glacier Ridge. From a services and transportation standpoint, this community doesn’t look great. A map of the community shows an environmental space bisecting the community, with only one major east-west road. This will make it difficult for transit to service the area. The planned density of the community also appears to be low, with a relatively small employment centre located off of 69th Street. Though rapid transit is planned to reach Sage Hill in the distant future, this community will be far from the Sage Hill hub, and the geography of the roads in the community will make efficient feeder services difficult. The community plan claims that 144th Avenue will be a place for “intensified development that supports the Primary Transit Service,” however, in maps attached to the plan, the majority of the 144th Avenue corridor will remain as neighbourhood space, filled primarily with houses of unknown density. There are no mention of any densification measures like the addition of condominiums or townhouses.

Looking further into the transit accommodations of the new development, “primary transit” is envisioned along the border of the community, on 144th Avenue and 160th Avenue. “Local transit service” will exist on multiple side roads. However, looking at long-term maps of Calgary Transit’s planned Primary Transit Network (PTN), none of the roads shown on the development map are actually part of the PTN with the exception of Shaganappi Trail and Symons Valley Road. And what is Symons Valley Road in the development plan? Part of the “local transit network.” It appears to us the developers have not actually looked at Calgary Transit’s long-term plans for servicing the region, and have instead drawn up their own plans of how the community can best be served. We presume this need for service will be shouldered by other communities, owing to the low-density of the region. We further question the quality of service, as Calgary Transit currently struggles to make inner-city routes part of the PTN in frequency. Who will fund PTN levels of service on roads not designated to be part of the PTN?

Looking further at the road network, the only major roads linking this community to the remainder of the city are Symons Valley Road and Shaganappi Trail. In fact, because the community is so far north, no skeletal roads exist near the community, unlike the other developments. Four kilometres of roads winding through other communities need to be traversed prior to reaching Stoney Trail. The most direct routes into the remainder of the city, Shaganappi Trail and Symons Valley Road, are both already becoming crowded as a result of other northern developments, and a lack of plans to add rapid transit or additional road capacity out to this community is concerning (in the “beyond long-term” plans of RouteAhead, Shaganappi rapid transit will only reach Sage Hill). Though the community will not be dense, a lack of transit alternatives leads us to believe the majority of residents will drive to community services and jobs, further reducing capacity on northern roads. The community will also require it’s own emergency services centre, owing to it’s distance from pretty much everything else in the city.

Overall, Glacier Ridge is a community we do not think should have been approved. The community has weak transit and road links, and is so distant from other parts of the city, it is unlikely the development will be self-sufficient. The positioning of activity centres away from main roads is also a concern for efficient transit, and makes us wonder why the community was approved in the first place.

To sum it all up, development might not be a bad thing for Calgary’s transportation network. Some developments look like they may require more thought prior to being built, but overall, we satisfied the majority of recommended developments will add to the city as a whole.

Who know, maybe development will spur capital projects initially planned for decades down the road.

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