News   Apr 03, 2020
 4.6K     1 
News   Apr 02, 2020
 6.5K     3 
News   Apr 02, 2020
 3.7K     0 

What part of Calgary would you rezone for higher density?

Stephen Ave

Active Member
Member Bio
Joined
Dec 16, 2017
Messages
431
Reaction score
1,174
If you were given free reign to increase the density by as much as double of any part (street, avenue or small area) of the city. Where would you choose and why?

There are so many places it’s hard to pick, but I would probably go with Sunnyside. It’s a location that could support higher density and still have a village feel.
 
It would be nice to have the power to do that.

Personally I would leave Sunnyside for the most part. It's already getting good density through low to medium-rise projects. It's a great neighborhood that is fine if it slowly adds density over the years. I was thinking for a while of which neighborhood I would do, and I might go with Sunalta - along that stretch between 10th and 12th. Given the LRT station and proximity to downtown, it's really under-utilized.

I guess as a close second I would increase the density along Centre street north, or along 17th ave SE.
 
If you were given free reign to increase the density by as much as double of any part (street, avenue or small area) of the city. Where would you choose and why?

There are so many places it’s hard to pick, but I would probably go with Sunnyside. It’s a location that could support higher density and still have a village feel.

A 200m zone around Macleod trail from Cemetery Hill to Anderson.

It's currently underutilized with low density strip malls and close to the C-train.
 
I'd rezone the entire Macleod Trail corridor for high density, would love to see it become somewhat of a Kingsway-style street (a la Burnaby)... as I believe that is the best we could ever hope from Macleod.

Would also love to see Sunnyside and Hillhurst both rezoned for high density. Would prefer to see both as mostly 6 - 10 storey towers, with a couple of 10 - 16 storey towers in there.

Along Centre Street North, I'd prefer to see the entire corridor south of 40 Avenue lined with well-scaled 4 - 8 storey buildings, with the area in the vicinity of the intersection of 16 Avenue including buildings 15 - 20 storeys, with the intersection itself having buildings between 25 and 30 storeys. Everything between that and the Centre Street Bridge would be between 5 and 10 storeys.

I'd also love to see Crowfoot Crossing as an ocean of skyscrapers tapering to the west, offering most of the residents amazing views of the Rockies.
 
Sunalta's a good choice. At the very least, the area around the station could use more density. It's a major waste. MacLeod Trail also another area that could use a boost, although I wonder if it's a write off. The area by Chinook really has good potential as a dense hub/TOD

I would like to see West Hillhurst get increase in density increase, particularly along 5th ave, 14th street and 19th street.
 
Sunalta is a challenge. Mid sized density is hard there for the same reason as anywhere, parking ratios and the price to build parking not increasing proportionally with the number of spots when ramps take up so much room. The 1/3rb block low rise with 4-6 floors lets you build just one level of parking.

The higher density proposals on 10th will help with moving things forward. More eyes on the street around the LRT station would be great. I am biased as a condo owner in the neighbourhood however.
 
Great idea. I would rezone / upzone all of University Heights, University Research Park, Varsity, Banff Trail, Charleswood, Brentwood and Capitol Hill. Huge activity centres of the University, Foothills and SAIT, woefully locked into a 1970s-era suburban, auto-oriented low density sea. Instead of one of our most youthful and vibrant areas - as the university districts of many cities are - we have created something far from it's potential. Density, land use and urban design that really caters to the young student / young professional crowd would be a killer app for the area.
 
The whole area around Chinook, and the stretch of McLeod leading into downtown. Chinook is the middle of our city and the premiere retail area, it should start to be more of an urban format than purely car dependant.
 
Oh man, great question. Everything north of Heritage, East of 45th St. SW, south of john laurie, and west of 36 St. SE would go to Mc-2 as a minimum. Then everything on; the calgary mainstreets, withing 600m of c-train stations, and anything in the beltine, DT, mission, bankview, sunalta, bridgeland, and sunnyside/hillhurst as dense as we can. I know it's a bit aggressive but it's gotta happen for us to get critical mass.
 
Some great suggestions. One of the zoning changes I'd like to see is RC-2 (duplex) converted to RC-G allowing flexibility in developing duplex/rowhousing plus other unit types. I just don't see how these RC-2 pockets still exists - north side of Bridgeland/Renfrew for example below. I suppose that's why most of the rowhousing infill is still happening south of downtown.

I'd also like to see upzoning to an FAR of 4.0 - 5.0 within most of the main inner-city neighborhoods, especially along main streets and close to transit (Bridgeland, Kensington, Marda Loop, Inglewood, Mission). Some prime sites along major commercial districts in these areas are still only allowing for an FAR of 2.0 - 3.0.

upload_2018-9-19_10-4-49.png


upload_2018-9-19_10-6-21.png
 

Attachments

  • upload_2018-9-19_10-2-53.png
    upload_2018-9-19_10-2-53.png
    727.1 KB · Views: 209
  • upload_2018-9-19_10-4-49.png
    upload_2018-9-19_10-4-49.png
    727.1 KB · Views: 344
  • upload_2018-9-19_10-6-21.png
    upload_2018-9-19_10-6-21.png
    836.3 KB · Views: 343
Last edited:
Sunalta is a challenge. Mid sized density is hard there for the same reason as anywhere, parking ratios and the price to build parking not increasing proportionally with the number of spots when ramps take up so much room. The 1/3rb block low rise with 4-6 floors lets you build just one level of parking.

The higher density proposals on 10th will help with moving things forward. More eyes on the street around the LRT station would be great. I am biased as a condo owner in the neighbourhood however.
A few larger proposal right around the LRT station would be great.
 
There is a plan in place to increase Bridgeland's density on the north side of 1st ave. up to at least 2nd ave, and possible as far as 4th ave. I'll see if I can find some details.
Some great suggestions. One of the zoning changes I'd like to see is RC-2 (duplex) converted to RC-G allowing flexibility in developing duplex/rowhousing plus other unit types. I just don't see how these RC-2 pockets still exists - north side of Bridgeland/Renfrew for example below. I suppose that's why most of the rowhousing infill is still happening south of downtown.

I'd also like to see upzoning to an FAR of 4.0 - 5.0 within most of the main inner-city neighborhoods, especially along main streets and close to transit (Bridgeland, Kensington, Marda Loop, Inglewood, Mission). Some prime sites along major commercial districts in these areas are still only allowing for an FAR of 2.0 - 3.0.
 
More Density and a mix of uses here;
upload_2018-9-20_9-33-55.png

Re-envision this entire neighbourhood at higher densities;
upload_2018-9-20_9-36-27.png

Creating mixed-use residential centres along at key nodes along Elbow Drive;
upload_2018-9-20_9-41-27.png

Density here too;
upload_2018-9-20_9-46-45.png
 

Attachments

  • upload_2018-9-20_9-33-55.png
    upload_2018-9-20_9-33-55.png
    265.4 KB · Views: 344
  • upload_2018-9-20_9-36-27.png
    upload_2018-9-20_9-36-27.png
    220.2 KB · Views: 331
  • upload_2018-9-20_9-41-27.png
    upload_2018-9-20_9-41-27.png
    132.4 KB · Views: 335
  • upload_2018-9-20_9-46-45.png
    upload_2018-9-20_9-46-45.png
    184.6 KB · Views: 336

Back
Top