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Infill Development Discussion

A couple more of these Eaglecrest infill developments that contain basement suites, and have significant parking relaxations, have their land use gong to CPC this week.
The first is at 3719 14th St SW: Report, Backgroud, Proposed DC bylaw, Applicant Submission, DP drawings, Marda Loop CA letter of opposition, Elbow Park CA letter of opposition
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The second is at 1531 33rd Av SW: Report, Background, Proposed DC bylaw, Applicant Submission, DP drawings, Marda Loop CA letter of opposition
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A couple more of these Eaglecrest infill developments that contain basement suites, and have significant parking relaxations, have their land use gong to CPC this week.
The first is at 3719 14th St SW: Report, Backgroud, Proposed DC bylaw, Applicant Submission, DP drawings, Marda Loop CA letter of opposition, Elbow Park CA letter of opposition
View attachment 378857View attachment 378858

The second is at 1531 33rd Av SW: Report, Background, Proposed DC bylaw, Applicant Submission, DP drawings, Marda Loop CA letter of opposition
View attachment 378860View attachment 378861
Love these
 
A couple more of these Eaglecrest infill developments that contain basement suites, and have significant parking relaxations, have their land use gong to CPC this week.
The first is at 3719 14th St SW: Report, Backgroud, Proposed DC bylaw, Applicant Submission, DP drawings, Marda Loop CA letter of opposition, Elbow Park CA letter of opposition
Elbow Park's CA statement made me choke (figuratively):
"A reduction in the supply of single-family homes in established communities, will increase the value of the remaining homes, making it more difficult for the average Calgarian to buy them."
Good Samaritans of Eagle Park oppose to development that, in they words, will make their property more valuable. All in the name of helping fellow Calgarians.

Though, a strata of 10 different units may well become a living hell. Too small for a more professional management, too large to have everybody agree on everything, different priorities for main and basement suits etc
 
Elbow Park's CA statement made me choke (figuratively):
"A reduction in the supply of single-family homes in established communities, will increase the value of the remaining homes, making it more difficult for the average Calgarian to buy them."
Good Samaritans of Eagle Park oppose to development that, in they words, will make their property more valuable. All in the name of helping fellow Calgarians.

Though, a strata of 10 different units may well become a living hell. Too small for a more professional management, too large to have everybody agree on everything, different priorities for main and basement suits etc

The Marda Loop CA's assertion that "missing middle" housing has to have 2-3 bedrooms and a parking spot also made me choke on my figurative breakfast. Who came up with that?

The wonderful thing about Calgary is that CPC and Council almost never give a $hit what local CA's have to say when considering land use and DPs. It's kind of amazing that the politics work in the way they do. I am continually surprised that people spend hours writing these letters, going to meetings, and 95% of the time they have no impact on the decision.
 
The Marda Loop CA's assertion that "missing middle" housing has to have 2-3 bedrooms and a parking spot also made me choke on my figurative breakfast. Who came up with that?

The wonderful thing about Calgary is that CPC and Council almost never give a $hit what local CA's have to say when considering land use and DPs. It's kind of amazing that the politics work in the way they do. I am continually surprised that people spend hours writing these letters, going to meetings, and 95% of the time they have no impact on the decision.
The 2-3 bedrooms argument is nonsense. I do think that the parking issue is legitimate. I’d like to be able to trust the statistics on car ownership and believe that a 1:1 parking stall to unit ratio isn’t required, but anecdotally, as someone who lives in Marda Loop, I have difficulty believing that car ownership in the area isn’t >1:1, and even though these are “missing middle” units, car ownership will still be close to, if not above 1:1.

Marda Loop has decent transit, but it just isn’t quite adequately serviced enough to impact car ownership.

I’ll use an observation of an infill built at the SE corner of 33 Ave SW and 17 St.

It has 4 units above grade and 4 basement suites. There is a garage for 4 vehicles. Since completion, the street in front of the building always has cars parked in front of it. The building isn’t fully leased.

A few buildings like the ones being proposed here won’t substantially impact street parking volumes, but as more and more of these buildings are proposed with ~0.5:1 ratios, it will become a problem.

Compounding this issue is that the City is proposing to remove 50+ Parking spaces (and narrowing the road width) on 34 Ave SW as part of the proposed cycling amenities. Add the changes that will also occur on 33 Ave SW as part of Main Streets, the area is likely to lose more parking.

I’m all for these changes. I think they will better the neighbourhood, but I do think the City needs to do something to address parking in the neighbourhood before it becomes more of an issue than it is.

A good place to start would be to incentivize people to park in their garages by introducing permitted parking. My family owns one car. We park in our garage. We commute by bus or bike. Many of our neighbours have 2 or even 3 vehicles. Some might park one vehicle in their garage. Some might not use their garage for parking at all (what they use them for I don’t know). People should be required to pay to store their vehicles. If that cost isn’t in the cost of their mortgage or rent because their residence doesn’t have adequate parking for their needs, then they should pay to park their vehicle on the street or in a lot.

Low parking ratios are good for density, but they really benefit the developers who reap the cost savings, and the people who own or rent these homes who see some of the cost savings passed on to them, but this comes at a cost to the neighbourhood by way of streets packed with parked cars (reduced visibility for drivers, increased potential for conflicts with cyclists, reduced short term parking for patrons of businesses, etc.).
 
The 2-3 bedrooms argument is nonsense. I do think that the parking issue is legitimate. I’d like to be able to trust the statistics on car ownership and believe that a 1:1 parking stall to unit ratio isn’t required, but anecdotally, as someone who lives in Marda Loop, I have difficulty believing that car ownership in the area isn’t >1:1, and even though these are “missing middle” units, car ownership will still be close to, if not above 1:1.

Marda Loop has decent transit, but it just isn’t quite adequately serviced enough to impact car ownership.

I’ll use an observation of an infill built at the SE corner of 33 Ave SW and 17 St.

It has 4 units above grade and 4 basement suites. There is a garage for 4 vehicles. Since completion, the street in front of the building always has cars parked in front of it. The building isn’t fully leased.

A few buildings like the ones being proposed here won’t substantially impact street parking volumes, but as more and more of these buildings are proposed with ~0.5:1 ratios, it will become a problem.

Compounding this issue is that the City is proposing to remove 50+ Parking spaces (and narrowing the road width) on 34 Ave SW as part of the proposed cycling amenities. Add the changes that will also occur on 33 Ave SW as part of Main Streets, the area is likely to lose more parking.

I’m all for these changes. I think they will better the neighbourhood, but I do think the City needs to do something to address parking in the neighbourhood before it becomes more of an issue than it is.

A good place to start would be to incentivize people to park in their garages by introducing permitted parking. My family owns one car. We park in our garage. We commute by bus or bike. Many of our neighbours have 2 or even 3 vehicles. Some might park one vehicle in their garage. Some might not use their garage for parking at all (what they use them for I don’t know). People should be required to pay to store their vehicles. If that cost isn’t in the cost of their mortgage or rent because their residence doesn’t have adequate parking for their needs, then they should pay to park their vehicle on the street or in a lot.

Low parking ratios are good for density, but they really benefit the developers who reap the cost savings, and the people who own or rent these homes who see some of the cost savings passed on to them, but this comes at a cost to the neighbourhood by way of streets packed with parked cars (reduced visibility for drivers, increased potential for conflicts with cyclists, reduced short term parking for patrons of businesses, etc.).
All this is solved by removing parking requirements for development (1) and charging proper, market rate for using street parking (2). Add some additional nuance to round out any kinks (if you have off-street parking already, you can't park on the street at all etc.)

In such a scenario, developers are free to build as much parking as they think their future residents want, car owners are free to rent as much car storage from the public as they want.

If you are tired of renting parking from the public street or the price gets too high for you due to market factors, you are welcome to change modes of transportation to something more affordable or build an off-street stall for yourself at whatever cost that is.
 
The Jade
If only they could have added one more colour and one or two more materials. :rolleyes:
 
Elbow Park's CA statement made me choke (figuratively):
"A reduction in the supply of single-family homes in established communities, will increase the value of the remaining homes, making it more difficult for the average Calgarian to buy them."
Good Samaritans of Eagle Park oppose to development that, in they words, will make their property more valuable. All in the name of helping fellow Calgarians.

Though, a strata of 10 different units may well become a living hell. Too small for a more professional management, too large to have everybody agree on everything, different priorities for main and basement suits etc
These projects are typically common ownership and rentals, so that shouldn't be an issue.




"The proposed development is “predatory” and takes advantage of a desirable central location that would more suited to semi-detached housing."

Predatory? How do they expect industry to take them seriously when they use words like that? Predatory????
It's a desirable central location that is suited for humans, regardless of their income bracket or ownership status. Nothing predatory about this one.
 
I know we've posted on this previously (and I apologize for the self promotion), but Passive House multi-family is finally coming to Calgary! Altadore specifically. It's shocking how difficult this approval was considering we're in a "climate emergency" as a city, but here we are... In any case, hope nobody minds us sharing. We'd love your feedback on the final building. June construction is our target.


PASSIVE1.JPG
 
I know we've posted on this previously (and I apologize for the self promotion), but Passive House multi-family is finally coming to Calgary! Altadore specifically. It's shocking how difficult this approval was considering we're in a "climate emergency" as a city, but here we are... In any case, hope nobody minds us sharing. We'd love your feedback on the final building. June construction is our target.


View attachment 380606
Nice job! Having worked on some buildings that were approaching net zero through passive house design, you did a good job with it, as the buildings really do become very simple boxes. Only thing I would do is articulation of each individual unit through colour and materiality. Your material and colour pallet is nice though I would just reuse the materials for the individual units with the best materials (brick) being on the corners of the building. Preference would be not having garages in the front setback area, but that is likely a response to site constraints. Nice job you are doing solid projects!
 
I know we've posted on this previously (and I apologize for the self promotion), but Passive House multi-family is finally coming to Calgary! Altadore specifically. It's shocking how difficult this approval was considering we're in a "climate emergency" as a city, but here we are... In any case, hope nobody minds us sharing. We'd love your feedback on the final building. June construction is our target.


View attachment 380606
Where in Altadore is this located?
 
Nice job! Having worked on some buildings that were approaching net zero through passive house design, you did a good job with it, as the buildings really do become very simple boxes. Only thing I would do is articulation of each individual unit through colour and materiality. Your material and colour pallet is nice though I would just reuse the materials for the individual units with the best materials (brick) being on the corners of the building. Preference would be not having garages in the front setback area, but that is likely a response to site constraints. Nice job you are doing solid projects!
Thank you for the feedback and kind words. It's very appreciated!
 
Interesting video on the passive house. I'm not surprised that proper insulation, etc... can support the heating of a house. Even in my older drafty house, with older windows, the house warms a lot just from the sun. The two rooms where we have computers and other electronic equipment tend to get too hot actually. One of those rooms is in the room in the basement and has some servers and other IT gear. It's gets heated fairly easily if the door to the room is closed.
 

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