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Because it’s all in the hands of a single developer who’s sitting on it. How did all that land end up with one company?
An open tender by the City, where they were the highest bidder by a significant margin. With the West LRT going significantly over the initial budget (Greenline beware...) there was a big appetite to recover as much cost as the City could, so money talked, rather than developer experience/record.
 
An open tender by the City, where they were the highest bidder by a significant margin. With the West LRT going significantly over the initial budget (Greenline beware...) there was a big appetite to recover as much cost as the City could, so money talked, rather than developer experience/record.
Too bad they didn't build in a time contingent claus, so they could pass to other developers if needed.
 
I notice that there is construction and cranes around the Shawnessy LRT, does anyone know what the TOD they are building there is going to be like and who is the architect/builder?
 
The land use for a TODish development is at CPC right now, for a parcel across from the Saddletown C-Train station. The land use report is here:

there is a concurrent DP submitted, with a summary seen here:
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Here's this site in TOD context:
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I'm not going to give any beauty prizes to the proposed building, but the thing that is actually out of scale (given the proximity to LRT) are the snout houses next door. What is the point of even having a TOD policy if developers are allowed to build car-only housing within 200m walking distance of LRT platforms?
 
I think the houses predate the LRT station. This particular lot is interesting, as it was actually a "temporary" fire station. The City built this house as an interim solution to provide fire coverage to Saddleridge, before the full blown fire station could be funded/built (the interim one might have even been front-ended by the developer). You can see the extra large garage to accommodate a fire truck, and the empty lots beside it for parking on Streetview:
 
Here's this site in TOD context:
View attachment 337006

I'm not going to give any beauty prizes to the proposed building, but the thing that is actually out of scale (given the proximity to LRT) are the snout houses next door. What is the point of even having a TOD policy if developers are allowed to build car-only housing within 200m walking distance of LRT platforms?
Completely agree.

Also: one of the clearest cases I’ve seen of how our car-only arterial road network dictates bad outcomes - even literally across the street from a LRT station.

Rather than have the retail and street parking fronting the over-built one-way with slip lanes and work to integrate closer the development and activity to the station (i.e. the whole reason why density is encouraged near transit in the first place), it goes on the connector street so the arterial can remain free-flow, no parking and a car only sewer *next to the Station!* Can’t stress enough how silly that is.

That pushes the buildings vehicle access further back around the corner again.

the result? More of what the neighbours would complain about (traffic and vehicles turning, parking and queuing into the neighbourhood), less of what we are trying to encourage by adding activity near LRT stations (increase transit attractiveness, walking and create neighbourhood destinations at transit nodes etc.) all because we think it’s reasonable to maintain 3 free-flow one-way lanes across the street from an LRT station. Bonkers.

My take: rotate building 90 degrees to face one-way, take out the slip lane for street parking and better public realm, and add a full controlled intersection so residents can cross to station. All problems are solved but the proposed colour.
 
I think the houses predate the LRT station. This particular lot is interesting, as it was actually a "temporary" fire station. The City built this house as an interim solution to provide fire coverage to Saddleridge, before the full blown fire station could be funded/built (the interim one might have even been front-ended by the developer). You can see the extra large garage to accommodate a fire truck, and the empty lots beside it for parking on Streetview:
I didn't know it was the temporary fire hall; I had guessed it was a development sales centre or something.

Anyways, technically, yes, the houses were built before the LRT platform; they were built in the early 2000s (03 or 04 I think), while the LRT station was funded in 2007 and opened in 2012.

1627101196279.png


But the plan for an LRT station at that location goes back to at least 1997, and probably as far back as 1984 -- I'm not sure exactly what got amended when in the ASP. This isn't Ogden or Sunnyside where the community existed before there was even an idea of LRT in Calgary; every road in these communities and virtually every building was planned with the knowledge of the specific LRT right of way and station locations. Even the policy on the books at the time was:
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1997 Transit Friendly Design Guide.

 

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