West District | ?m | ?s | Truman

[CallmeCatbread]

I have no point here, but just down the road from Odyssey Towers are some awesome A-Frame row houses!

View attachment 626914

This finally reminded me to look up an old listing...they actually seem better inside than I thought. The chalet vibe would have made a lot of sense until ~Y2K when this was essentially the city limit

Woah! Those are cool

 

[gsunnyg]

Pretty sure it's the people in the surrounding communities (which are pretty old) who are complaining.

Doesn't make it any less pathetic.

That sounds even worse.

 

[Makarov]

I have no point here, but just down the road from Odyssey Towers are some awesome A-Frame row houses!

View attachment 626914

This finally reminded me to look up an old listing...they actually seem better inside than I thought. The chalet vibe would have made a lot of sense until ~Y2K when this was essentially the city limit

Fun fact: I grew up down the street from both these and the Odyssey Towers. They were obviously both neighbourhood landmarks back then.

 

[DiscoStu]

Love those Odyssey Towers and A-Frames! I wish we still had more architectural experimentation in our designs like that today, instead of the commodity boxes we typically get.

 

[trtcttc]

Bruh West District is literally a greenfield community being developed for high density use. These NIMBYist are so annoying sometimes. Like why move there if everyone knew the community was being developed with a high-density vision? It's not like the NIMBYist can make the argument that they've been living there for over 30 years.

The car concerns are dumb, but I do think we need a better way of estimating an area's population for infrastructure and planning. Every development item being reviewed at CPC, there's that table from 2019 showing many communities have lost residents, while we can clearly tell from local school enrollment numbers that its no longer true. We need an updated point in time measurement of the last census + development since then, to accurately understand if these concerns around school enrollment are valid. And if so, development items need to be paired with community investment.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

And if so, development items need to be paired with community investment.

This is happening, the city knows what it has in the ground.

 

[trtcttc]

This is happening, the city knows what it has in the ground.

Is it? If you look at the backgrounder to development items at the CPC and council meetings, it still refers to the population growth figures from 2019

https://pub-calgary.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=314693

 

[CalgaryTiger]

Is it? If you look at the backgrounder to development items at the CPC and council meetings, it still refers to the population growth figures from 2019
View attachment 627041

https://pub-calgary.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=314693

You spoke about development and community investment, that is what I was referring to. The city knows what they have in the ground and what has happened development-wise since 2019.

 

[lemongrab]

The car concerns are dumb, but I do think we need a better way of estimating an area's population for infrastructure and planning. Every development item being reviewed at CPC, there's that table from 2019 showing many communities have lost residents, while we can clearly tell from local school enrollment numbers that its no longer true. We need an updated point in time measurement of the last census + development since then, to accurately understand if these concerns around school enrollment are valid. And if so, development items need to be paired with community investment.

New towers probably have lower impact to school enrolment than any other form. If crowded schools are their concern they should be fighting against SFHs (or voting and advocating provincially in this interest)

And within 1400 meters of this site there is:

K-9 Catholic
K-6 Public
7-9 Public
K-12 Private French
PreK-9 Waldorf

And another K-6 public 1600 meters away. Plus several preschools and daycares.

 

[jacketsniffer]

New towers probably have lower impact to school enrolment than any other form. If crowded schools are their concern they should be fighting against SFHs (or voting and advocating provincially in this interest)

And within 1400 meters of this site there is:

K-9 Catholic
K-6 Public
7-9 Public
K-12 Private French
PreK-9 Waldorf

And another K-6 public 1600 meters away. Plus several preschools and daycares.

Great point. Additionally the demographics of West Springs is getting older with many homes 20+ years old and kids aging out of K-12 each year. Based on observations most residents stay in their family home once the kids age out, so this new stock of housing will keep the schools utilized. Across Bow Trail in Strathcona there are also Roberta Bondar K-6, John Costello K-6, and Olympic Heights K-6 which is an even older neighborhood.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

It is this simple, if there is a shortage of schools, it is not the city's issue. The province has downloaded enough on the city, don't add the weight of school construction and additions on them too. Not enough schools or schools are not big enough, maybe use that as part of your decision making when choosing a government.

Edit: Or here is a thought... integrate a school into the West District Development.

 

[badc0ffee]

Building schools is so expensive and time-consuming, especially in established neighbourhoods, that you have to admit that taking them into account when planning where family housing will be built makes sense.

Two levels of government saying "not my problem" to each other is also no good for anyone.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

taking them into account when planning where family housing will be built makes sense.

I grew up down the street from a field zoned for a school. That school was not built for 15 years (Edit: I bussed to school every single year until I graduated). The city can do all the planning for schools it wants and nothing can still happen.

It is the province's problem. If they're not doing it, it is 100% on them.

 

[badc0ffee]

I grew up down the street from a field zoned for a school. That school was not built for 15 years (Edit: I bussed to school every single year until I graduated). The city can do all the planning for schools it wants and nothing can still happen.

It is the province's problem. If they're not doing it, it is 100% on them.

That's exactly what I'm saying. If you can't control the construction of schools, it would be smart to plan around that.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

That's exactly what I'm saying. If you can't control the construction of schools, it would be smart to plan around that.

If you're the City, you cannot delay development because you're not sure when a school will be built. As in my case that I pointed out, it can take 15 years for the school to start construction and that was a greenfield community. You cannot delay development waiting for other orders of government to get everything perfectly lined up. It is up to CBE and the Province to take care of schools, the city should probably play a bigger role in school development but unless that comes in the form of a blank cheque from the Province, I do not touch it if I'm the City.