Infill Development Discussion

[Surrealplaces]

I think that mansion looks awesome! Come on, every major city has to have a couple over the top mansions. I have no problem with Crescent heights being a street full of large single family homes. I just wish they would make a beautiful stone promenade along the entire stretch that everyone can enjoy.

I think a nice paved promenade will come at some point. They've slowly been improving the crescent road pathway. I've always wished that they had a small stone patio style amphitheater built into the hill at the top somewhere, or a wide set of steps similar to the Spanish Steps in Rome...steps wide enough for people to hangout.

 

[Surrealplaces]

There are stability issues with the slope moving, that's why they haven't paved the pathways there.

Well I guess that blows away my idea of a small amphitheater or wide steps arrangement. Maybe they can build an amphitheater out of wood.

 

[Mountain Man]

It's a huge issue on all these slopes in Calgary, they just did or are doing a major project to save some houses in Douglasdale from falling down the bluff into the river IIRC.

 

[CBBarnett]

I think that mansion looks awesome! Come on, every major city has to have a couple over the top mansions. I have no problem with Crescent heights being a street full of large single family homes. I just wish they would make a beautiful stone promenade along the entire stretch that everyone can enjoy.

I saw this on social media, looks like a good chance to add your ideas!
https://engage.calgary.ca/crescentroad

 

[CBBarnett]

It's a huge issue on all these slopes in Calgary, they just did or are doing a major project to save some houses in Douglasdale from falling down the bluff into the river IIRC.

Maybe we should get an erosion map in Calgary like the flood maps that give you a 1:100 year line of all areas where your house will slump into the river. It's one thing about a cracking pathway - annoying but not exactly expensive to fix - it's another with full houses at risk.

Not a geologist or engineer, but I am assuming our wildly random glacial till ground conditions are to blame all over the city?

 

[DougB]

The wavy arm guy is a nice touch!


There are stability issues with the slope moving, that's why they haven't paved the pathways there.

IIRC, when McHugh Bluff has redeveloped about 12 years ago, NIMBY opposition purposely restricted making the pathway too desirable to people outside the neighborhood

 

[DougB]

Maybe we should get an erosion map in Calgary like the flood maps that give you a 1:100 year line of all areas where your house will slump into the river. It's one thing about a cracking pathway - annoying but not exactly expensive to fix - it's another with full houses at risk.

Not a geologist or engineer, but I am assuming our wildly random glacial till ground conditions are to blame all over the city?

Calgary's alternating layers of gravel and clay can result in the clay trapping water, leading to slumping. I lived near the section of Douglasdale where the slope moved. The primary reason for slumping was residents directing stormwater spouts into their backyards. The grading of the area and design of the pathway should have directed water away from the slope, not onto it. The hillside really moved after the wet summers of 2005 and 2013.

 

[googspecial]

Another reason I've heard regarding not paving the pathway is that the gravel is softer/better for running on than pavement... Though I could see NIMBYism being the leading cause against it, instead of a faction of people who run

 

[DougB]

Another reason I've heard regarding not paving the pathway is that the gravel is softer/better for running on than pavement... Though I could see NIMBYism being the leading cause against it, instead of a faction of people who run

Would be great to have McHugh Bluff developed into something akin to Edmonton's Victoria Promenade. The NIMBY"s could be satisfied by the existing speed bumps and non-resident parking restrictions.

Also seem to remember dogs being the other justification, along the lines of additional paving and lanscaping would reduce area for dogs. Probably just NIMBY's grasping. If anything were proposed again, I would expect:
-too many people on McHugh Bluff would impact EMS response times to local residents
-won't somebody please think of the children

 

[Alex_YYC]

This isn’t under construction, but I wonder what people’s thoughts are in these types of developments, with the garage at the base?

 

[MichaelS]

If it were off of a private laneway, similar to some of the recent townhome developments around town, it would be okay. See these examples:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.ca

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.ca

But, as this one appears to have the garage access the street, it really prevents a nice streetscape from forming. There is zero interaction with the public street (a blank wall for a ground floor), plus the inherent increased danger of numerous conflict points between vehicles backing out of garages across the pedestrian realm. Not to mention the need for greater impermeable surfaces for the driveways prevents more robust landscaping from forming.

So.... in summary, when directly accessed from the street.... not a fan.

 

[Surrealplaces]

My thoughts too. I don't like this unless the garage door is at the back or in the centre, as shown in the examples above. Doing it the way it's shown in the pic, pretty much kills the front street appeal. I don't even know if the city allows that type of set up anymore. Even worse on that development is the windows and facade look like the back of the house. Like who even designed that?

 

[Mountain Man]

Too much hardscaping that just generates runoff, plant some damn plants and grass! I live in a townhouse like that, but my area is super green so it's 100x nicer. I don't mind the front access, makes it possible to have a second car or have a friend visit. Visitor parking in a townhouse complex is always a shit show.

 

[Calgcouver]

It really is not an optimal solution at all in my opinion. There are other ways of reorganizing smaller slab-on-grade townhomes so that they don't produce this excessively hardscaped, car-dominated public realm experience. Limiting this to one curb cut and having the garages off of the rear with a narrow strata road would produce a much nicer public realm with these buildings. I think the reason that they organize the buildings this way is to maintain the required larger front setback. If the builder was allowed to push the building closer to the front property line and sidewalk, they could add the parking in the rear or centre of the site via a strata road.
Here is another bad Calgary example in Crescent Heights.

This development and many others in Calgary have excessive hardscaping, no landscaping and a poor interaction with the street. This is because it is not a laned parcel, but there are still ways to organize that don't have excessively large, automobile dominated front setback areas.
Here are a few examples of slab-on-grade townhomes on laneless parcels in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood of Seattle. They keep access to one curb cut that has a centralized strata road so that the public realm allows for interaction with the street and landscaping.
Heres the first:

Number 2:

Number 3:

 

[Disraeli]

That Crescent Heights example needs to be sent to the powers that be in this city (and every city) as an example of why minimum set back requirements are terrible