Westmount Development | 20m | 6s | Anthem | Integra Architecture

With any community, there are always going to be a group that oppose all development, a group that supports anything and everything, and a group that has genuine concerns. I think it's a bit reductive to say here are some NIMBYs so all concerns must just be NIMBYs. If someone was proposing a development by your house and the plan is to vent harmful chemicals where your kids play, I think most people would oppose it as well. A home radon mitigation is much smaller in volume than the amount of air that needs to be vented from a site this large. Many councilors will say "it should be ok". I'd imagine if you were in the community, "should be ok" isn't safe enough for you to live nearby. And if this really was a NIMBY problem, why didn't Calgary NEXT happen? If the contamination is no big deal, why do we still have an old Greyhound terminal, car dealerships in prime riverside land? I don't think there's many NIMBYs there to oppose development.

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calg...contamination-cleanup-larry-bentley-1.4088288 - From a UofC Geoscience Prof.
 
With any community, there are always going to be a group that oppose all development, a group that supports anything and everything, and a group that has genuine concerns. I think it's a bit reductive to say here are some NIMBYs so all concerns must just be NIMBYs. If someone was proposing a development by your house and the plan is to vent harmful chemicals where your kids play, I think most people would oppose it as well. A home radon mitigation is much smaller in volume than the amount of air that needs to be vented from a site this large. Many councilors will say "it should be ok". I'd imagine if you were in the community, "should be ok" isn't safe enough for you to live nearby. And if this really was a NIMBY problem, why didn't Calgary NEXT happen? If the contamination is no big deal, why do we still have an old Greyhound terminal, car dealerships in prime riverside land? I don't think there's many NIMBYs there to oppose development.

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calg...contamination-cleanup-larry-bentley-1.4088288 - From a UofC Geoscience Prof.
Like I said earlier where were these concerns when all the infills were built just meters from this site? The usual infrastructure and traffic bs is getting old.
I live in Evanston and we just had a 400+ unit rental development finish in the last few years right by my house. Even after all the “sky is falling “ bs by the NIMBY’s in my neighborhood, not much has changed. Just good things like more kids out playing in the fields and some life on the streets.
 
Like I said earlier where were these concerns when all the infills were built just meters from this site? The usual infrastructure and traffic bs is getting old.
I live in Evanston and we just had a 400+ unit rental development finish in the last few years right by my house. Even after all the “sky is falling “ bs by the NIMBY’s in my neighborhood, not much has changed. Just good things like more kids out playing in the fields and some life on the streets.
And a 226 unit building just opened not far from this site. 19+2 opened a few years back. Another development south of that, West Nineteenth, had almost zero community opposition. Though I'm not sure if the developer still wants to build it. Again, there will be people that have concerns with traffic/parking/whatever, but there is concern among residents that supported other developments in the community, just not this one, with the current proposal and lack of adequate safety plans.

Different concerns with infills because It's the volume. If they are using a sub slab depressurization system, which is similar to common radon mitigation, the pressurized air under your home is vented out the side of your home. There's regulation as to how far the vent needs to be from your air intake vents. When you have many single family homes, they all vent in different directions, and mixes with the outside air that the concentration quickly drops to safe levels. The concern is with how large the site is, and previous reports that it is one of the hotspots for deposits. The more harmful chemicals are in the ground, the higher concentration the vented air will have. The developer has not shared a site plan or studies on the effect of this vented air on the nearby communities. If someone is building something, and they plan to vent out harmful chemicals, I think it is reasonable to ask the builder to study how the vented air (location of vents, number of vents, volume of air, etc.) will interact with the local area.
 
I think they went 8-6 on a 6ish unit infill up in Briar Hill yesterday evening. So not this large, and speakers against were all over stuff about Restricted Covenants. So not sure if apples to apple comparison, but this was the next item up after that one.
 

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