Looking slightly different in the latest submission to DP2023-04992.
16th Ave Mixed Use Towers | 44m | 12s | LaCaille Group | S2
- Thread starter MichaelS
- Start date
DiscoStu
Active Member
Woo! I live close to this and have been hoping for something to be build on this dump. I'll take anything really, but hopefully there's some decent retail at street level.
Albertasaurus
Active Member
I live nearby too and agree. That stretch of 16th - well, almost all of 16th really is such a dump. We need some of these lots to get filled in with active uses. And the sidewalks along the N side of 16th need repairing and widening too, but that's a whole other story.
DiscoStu
Active Member
Indeed...16th trail is never going to be an urban utopia, but the bar is very low on this stretch especially. "Presentable" would be an upgrade.
DP2023-04992 approved 
Albertasaurus
Active Member
Great news! Unfortunately La Caille isn't exactly known for getting shovels in the ground in a hurry, so could still be a while before anything happens on this site.
music_cities
New Member
I watched the council meeting rezoning application from January 2024. I found it interesting that 1) the developer had done zero engagement until the last few weeks before the meeting, 2) La Caille explained that their previous approved DP from many years ago wasn't economically viable, so they needed upzoning to proceed, 3) they expected shovels-in-the-ground by September 2024, and 4) the upzoning mocks all the effort that went into the details of the local area redevelopment plan, blowing all the community engagement out of the water.
Albertasaurus
Active Member
So are you saying 12 storeys is too tall for 16 Avenue? If so, what do you consider a reasonable height? Or, for that matter, a reasonable level of community engagement?
music_cities
New Member
I just respect the long drawn-out community engagement process developing an ARP that's designed to guide community redevelopment. The ARP process involved developers, City planners, citizens, etc, and took time to write. There wasn't any indication that La Caille or the architect even bothered to read it. I don't know what "height" the ARP allows, I haven't (yet) read the ARP. One letter from the community said the developer wanted 30% more intensity than the ARP allowed, but I haven't verified that.
In terms of developer community engagement, it's pretty weird when the public letters from neighbours complain more about lack-of-communication than about the development itself. But, I think it's because they didn't have a concrete plan to share. It seems maybe they worked out a conceptual design quite quickly back in January 2024, so that they could get something out to the neighbours before the zoning hearing. I guess I'm ok with the way the developer engagement went down, even though it was unusual in the timing.
MichaelS
Senior Member
So, the North Hill Communities LAP (the ARP for the area) clearly states that 12 stories is the allowable building scale for this location:
In terms of the building concept, there was a development permit submitted concurrently with this land use ask, so the building design was known and likely shared (or at the very least, publicly available). As is evident by the first post of this thread, the DP was publicly available in early August 2023.
In terms of the building concept, there was a development permit submitted concurrently with this land use ask, so the building design was known and likely shared (or at the very least, publicly available). As is evident by the first post of this thread, the DP was publicly available in early August 2023.