JonnyCanuck
Senior Member
I can only imagine what it is costing the city to buy out all those owners. The total cost of this project now that the station is going underground is going to be staggering.
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
darwink
Senior Member
If it was underground as per the original plan, it did not require non-city owned land in the area. Avoiding the tunnel under the river now means part of the market and part of the townhouses will likely be acquired at some point in time.
CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
Am I wrong to assume that these townhomes won't actually need to be touched or acquired until the green line goes north of this station? The townhomes are not in the way of the currently funded stage if I understand correctly, right?
MichaelS
Senior Member
That's a good question. Is the City obligated to purchase them at any point in time? I imagine once the plan is set, resale value for the current residents to anyone other than The City is pretty abysmal. What happens if your life circumstances change and you need to move? Is the City obligated to buy you out? Or, do you just have to wait until it is convenient for The City?
darwink
Senior Member
There is a concept called defacto expropriation/constructive takings. https://www.blg.com/en/insights/2022/10/significant-expansion-to-the-law-of-constructive-takings
CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
What an interesting thought... To develop the mall/Eau Clair station Harvard and the city can avoid the townhomes.
If you wanted to sell a townhome in the meantime would the value actually go down?
What's the history of the city buying property that's obviously needed in the future for a infrastructure project, but not necessarily required now? The city buys property at 'market' value doesn't it? Does a guaranteed buyout for a buyer from the city incentivize buying or deter it?
The Familia
Active Member
More prime Eau Clare trees will be cut down, more newly constructed park infrastructure will be ripped up. Eau Clare will go from being a nice mature urban park to a barren wasteland. Such a shame…..
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
Why would Eau Claire Park transform at all because of this development or the green line? It’s 4 blocks west of Eau Claire Plaza. Do you mean Prince’s Island? Because that also will be minimally effected tree-wise, though the bridge will be an eye sore.
YYCguy
Active Member
The bridge will definitely destroy the beautiful view. It’s really a shame that there isn’t an alternative.
Colinfill
Active Member
I would argue that Eau Claire is currently a barren wasteland as it is right now (aside from Riverwalk and Prince's Island)
Mountain Man
Senior Member
A nice bridge wouldn't be so bad, but this will probably end up being pretty bare bones due to the cost and drama over the green line.
CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
The bridge over the elbow in stage 1 should be bare bones. Here, you have a chance to build a downtown viewpoint defining bridge, like the peace bridge. I really hope they don't just build a guideway. Use the fact it's at the edge of a park to your advantage in the design, get creative. The peace bridge was contentious but worth it, this will be contentious no matter what because of its location so make it something worth fighting for.
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whatchyyc
Active Member
I think that since there's a basically 0% chance they save enough money to build across the bow in the first stage, the bridge will get its own funding later and won't be a POS to make it under the original budget
or at least I hope so
or at least I hope so
maestro
Senior Member
The bridge in the rendering is a multi-use bridge. The underside of such a wide bridge including the most stunning bridge in the world has my concern. It should be LRT only to keep it as narrow as possible.
I never noticed that before, but yeah, that is one wide bridge. Depending on where the bridge terminates on the side of the river, they might not even not the pedestrian usage.