Sale of green spaces at Glenmore Landing given OK by city committee

After an all day meeting Wednesday, a Calgary city council committee has thrown its support behind selling some green space bordering a southwest shopping plaza.

The infrastructure and planning committee voted 8-3 in favour of selling the land to the RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust — a move opposed by many of the residents who provided feedback to the city.

Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner voted in favour of the sale of the land — which lies between Glenmore Landing and two roadways in Calgary's southwest — and says the plan to relinquish the land has been in the works for years.

"The Southwest BRT was actually very much predicated on the fact that future housing would come to this site," she said Thursday on the Calgary Eyeopener.

This image from the City of Calgary's presentation shows the land that could be sold in red. The area in green is deemed mature green space and will remain public land. (City of Calgary)

The 5.48 acres (2.22 hectares) of land is along the east and south of the shopping plaza, parallel to 14th Street and 90th Avenue S.W.

Penner says the land was underutilized for many years.

"These wouldn't, you know, be the parcels of land that I would want to invest in for community members because they are, you know, isolated in between a roadway and a parking lot," said Penner.

RioCan owns the plaza and is seeking to acquire the adjacent land before going forward with the phases of redevelopment. The area is adjacent to the Glenmore Reservoir.

It intends to build a mixed use and residential development, with up to six residential high-rises at the site, housing an estimated 3,000 residents.

The city heard from nearly 2,700 people about the issue. They were largely against the move.

"Our main concerns are quite site specific. It's this level of densification at this location," said Lesley Farrar, who is with Communities for Glenmore Landing Preservation, on the Calgary Eyeopener.

She says redevelopment of the plaza could lead to more traffic congestion, unwanted shadowing, noise pollution, safety concerns and degradation of the local environment.

Wednesday's vote was not about the actual redevelopment of the plaza, but much of the discussion centred on concerns tied to the plaza's development.

Coun. Dan Mclean voted against the land sale.

"I think councillors should probably listen to what the residents of the city want," said the Ward 13 representative.

He added that retaining green spaces in the city is important.

Coun. Sonya Sharp, who voted in favour of land sale, said it was only the first step toward the possible future of the site.

"We have to absolutely take in consideration everything we've heard from the community. But we also have to think about if this land right now is being used to the best of its ability," said Sharp, who represents Ward 1.

The disposition of the land must still be voted on by council — which could happen later this month — before the sale can go ahead.