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Available online to the public, the City of Calgary's Beltline Redevelopment Plan offers a detailed report on plans now underway to remake one of Calgary's oldest, most beloved downtown neighbourhoods. Originally planned as a streetcar suburb, with a high degree of carless connectivity to the financial district, the Beltline's urban vibrancy and pedestrian feel owes much of its success to its historic roots. Today a highly sought-after neighbourhood for urban professionals and young families, the Beltline is continuing to evolve, the addition of high-rise residential and new commercial development, alongside improvements to transit, bike lanes, and parks, all part of the neighbourhood's ongoing redevelopment - the City's latest plans representing a concerted effort to that the Beltiline's continued success unfolds to the best of its potential.
Detailed in a 150-page City Hall document covering the scope of the Beltline Redvelopment Plan, the proposal considers every facet of city-building including development, design, street furniture, bike lanes, sidewalks, parks, transit, and more. Encompassing a broad swath of downtown lands south of the core, bounded to the north and south by the CPR tracks and 17 Ave SW, and to the east and west by the Elbow River and 14 St SW. Home to a healthy mix of building typologies, from single-family homes to high-rise condos, and from low-rise commercial to big-box stores, and everything in-between, the bounded area is most easily split between the more classic definition of the Beltline found immediately southwest of downtown, to the Stadium Grounds and Saddledome which take up the eastern portion of the proposed redevelopment area.
Key to the development plans are those pertaining to the the approach to be taken towards infill and new development. Viewed above, and in the two accompanying illustrations below, one can easily imagine the respective impact of low-rise, mid-rise, and high-rise infill development upon the local streetscape.
Here, the City is seeking to strike a balance between the need for density and residential intensification, especially along key corridors, in balance with paying respect to the existing heritage and pedestrian character provided by the current typologies now in place. Truly a case where no single, one-size-fits-all system can be put in place, infill developments will continue to have to be introduced and approved on a project-by-project basis, albeit within the guidelines put in place by these latest plans.
Comprising a grand total of 4 million square feet of mixed-use development spread across 500 acres, and more than 8,000 potential new residents, the Beltline Redevelopment Plan will be highly transformative, a sign hopefully of good things to come in the city's near future.
SkyriseCities will be sure to return to this project as progress continues. In the meantime, tell us what you think of the City of Calagary's Beltline Redevelopment Plan in the comments section below.
