[Mountain Man]

I chose Kensington because it seems to have a vibe all of it's own. Beltline is great but just feels like the residential part of downtown, too big of an area to look at on it's own. Inglewood needs more love, but it's doing really well, Mission is great as well, but just a lower density version of the beltline. East Village and Eau Claire have the most potential, but fall the furthest short.

 

[adamyyc]

Yeah, I always nullify Stampede Park (0.4 km2) when counting density of the Beltline, since it is entirely privately held lands that will likely never be developed/are undevelopable due to their use/ownership. A very unique circumstance among downtown cores pretty much anywhere.

Other than that, I just don't agree about the Marda Loop streets part of your post. 33 Avenue is terribly busy and oppressive. The sidewalks are super narrow and there aren't nearly enough controlled crosswalks and virtually no traffic calming measures. 33 of course is the main street of the neighbourhood, but yes of course the other streets are calmer/small/"reasonable".

Hopefully the Mainstreets project gets enough funding to address the issues in Marda Loop. The development is helping as developers widen sidewalks and improve curbs (Coco as an example).

 

[CBBarnett]

Other than that, I just don't agree about the Marda Loop streets part of your post. 33 Avenue is terribly busy and oppressive. The sidewalks are super narrow and there aren't nearly enough controlled crosswalks and virtually no traffic calming measures. 33 of course is the main street of the neighbourhood, but yes of course the other streets are calmer/small/"reasonable".

The street's scale isn't oppressive - it's design is: 100% car-oriented. Completely agree that their needs to be 1000% more traffic calming, stop signs and lights and all other traffic interventions on 33/34 Aves and the surrounding areas. New developments and the main streets public realm improvements will make a difference to this, so the situation might improve (relatively) quickly.

My point was more that the Marda Loop area in all directions (minus Crowchild) are highly walkable and low-scale streets - perfect bones for a walkable urban community. These streets can be improved with relatively minor design changes, many of which are likely in progress in the next number of years. Meanwhile, Kensington deals with 14th Street and Memorial, Bridgeland with Edmonton Trail and Memorial, Beltline with MacLeod Trail, 11th and 12th Aves - all of which are multiple times larger, faster and more oppressive than 33rd ever could be and will require much more work to fix (if ever, because of some stakeholders who value conflicting priorities like speed and throughput).

 

[Silence&Motion]

I considered all of these neighbourhoods when I moved to Calgary six years ago. Here are two major factors that made the difference:

1. It's within a 5 to 20 minute commute of several different employment hubs: downtown, MRU, Foothills Hospital, U of C, and Rockyview. All of these destinations are directly linked to Marda Loop by a single transit line. Most are within biking distance (even U of C is only a 35 minute bike). Having access to multiple employment districts is KEY because many couples work in different locations. Most inner city locations are really badly located relative to non-downtown employment hubs. Inglewood is almost completely off limits to people who work at the universities or the western hospitals. Even Kensington, which is physically closer to Foothills, takes just as long to get there via bus as it does from Marda Loop.

2. Housing options are plentiful and diverse. I had a really hard time finding places in Kensington and Inglewood, but I was spoiled for choice in South Calgary/Altadore. Housing options range from older apartment buildings to multi-million dollar mansions. The nice thing is that so much of the neighbourhood was previously occupied by these wide lots with cheap bungalows from the 1950s. They have no architectural value preventing them from being knocked down, but the size of the lot provides a lot of flexibility in terms of what replaces them. For the last few decades they have been replaced primarily with bungalows. However, now they are increasingly replaced with mid-rise buildings and townhouses.

 

[potatopizzafan]

I considered all of these neighbourhoods when I moved to Calgary six years ago. Here are two major factors that made the difference:

1. It's within a 5 to 20 minute commute of several different employment hubs: downtown, MRU, Foothills Hospital, U of C, and Rockyview. All of these destinations are directly linked to Marda Loop by a single transit line. Most are within biking distance (even U of C is only a 35 minute bike). Having access to multiple employment districts is KEY because many couples work in different locations. Most inner city locations are really badly located relative to non-downtown employment hubs. Inglewood is almost completely off limits to people who work at the universities or the western hospitals. Even Kensington, which is physically closer to Foothills, takes just as long to get there via bus as it does from Marda Loop.

2. Housing options are plentiful and diverse. I had a really hard time finding places in Kensington and Inglewood, but I was spoiled for choice in South Calgary/Altadore. Housing options range from older apartment buildings to multi-million dollar mansions. The nice thing is that so much of the neighbourhood was previously occupied by these wide lots with cheap bungalows from the 1950s. They have no architectural value preventing them from being knocked down, but the size of the lot provides a lot of flexibility in terms of what replaces them. For the last few decades they have been replaced primarily with bungalows. However, now they are increasingly replaced with mid-rise buildings and townhouses.

very similar to my reasoning for buying in this area. Another big one for me was quick access to HWY 8 as i go out to bragg creek/moose mountain area 2x a week to mountain bike in the warmer months.

I really wanted to buy in Kensington area but the only places in my price range were old apartments and I wanted a townhouse.

 

[GoVertical]

I chose Beltline because I live there and I have always wanted to. But honestly, after living in Pembrooke, Mayland Heights, Renfrew, Banff Trail, Haysboro and Collingwood, I could see myself living anywhere within the inner city. I think having a Superstore and Canadian Tire really sealed it for me. It's also a bonus to live where they want to build more multi-modal infrastructure and AAA networks. I do agree about what's been said about Marda Loop's narrow sidewalks and traffic volume so that's the only deal breaker for me, as is the same in Bankview and sadly seems to be increasing in Bridgeland too.

 

[MissingMiddle]

An interesting split of the beltline could follow the Beltline ARP community boundaries, though they might be geographically small:

 

[Just build it]

I would be okay with everything east of Macleod going back to being called Victoria Park. The Beltline would lose a couple of thousand people but the boundaries make more sense to me.

 

[Silence&Motion]

These boundaries are just lines drawn on a map. Neighbourhoods are defined by their centres of gravity, not their boundaries. That’s why it makes no sense to take a main street like 4 st SW and call it the edge of a neighborhood when it is more of a centre.

 

[Patrick.1980]

The street's scale isn't oppressive - it's design is: 100% car-oriented. Completely agree that their needs to be 1000% more traffic calming, stop signs and lights and all other traffic interventions on 33/34 Aves and the surrounding areas. New developments and the main streets public realm improvements will make a difference to this, so the situation might improve (relatively) quickly.

My point was more that the Marda Loop area in all directions (minus Crowchild) are highly walkable and low-scale streets - perfect bones for a walkable urban community. These streets can be improved with relatively minor design changes, many of which are likely in progress in the next number of years. Meanwhile, Kensington deals with 14th Street and Memorial, Bridgeland with Edmonton Trail and Memorial, Beltline with MacLeod Trail, 11th and 12th Aves - all of which are multiple times larger, faster and more oppressive than 33rd ever could be and will require much more work to fix (if ever, because of some stakeholders who value conflicting priorities like speed and throughput).

I Agree with you. Marda Loop tends to be a nice walking area overall, but has challenges with traffic on 33rd at times, and it's something that can be fixed if there's enough willpower.

 

[Joborule]

I mentioned having more stuff on 10th Ave will help Sunalta turn into more of a destination community. Looks like another brewery is coming into the community.

TAILGUNNER Brewing Co.

www.tailgunnerbrewing.ca

With this, Two House moving down towards the west side of the street, and Sunalta Heights development starting up that hopefully brings in more retail/restaurants, 10th Ave could possibly really kick start within the next several years.

 

[Silence&Motion]

I hope Sunalta starts taking off. We've talked a lot about how terrible the transit-oriented development is in this city, but Sunalta station is actually one of the best designed stations in the city. Its front plaza could become the heart of the neighbourhood. Imagine if a grocery store was built next door. Just need to convince City staff to stop treating the plaza as a parking lot.

 

[ByeByeBaby]

I hope Sunalta starts taking off. We've talked a lot about how terrible the transit-oriented development is in this city, but Sunalta station is actually one of the best designed stations in the city. Its front plaza could become the heart of the neighbourhood. Imagine if a grocery store was built next door. Just need to convince City staff to stop treating the plaza as a parking lot.

Historically, there were some little convenience stores in LRT stations; I remember Whitehorn, Franklin and a few others (in the upper level). They were pulled out years ago, I assume in part because the city couldn't rent them at a reasonable rate.

Which makes sense to me; a convenience store in an LRT station seems to make sense, but in the real world, you're either just about to get on a train, so why would you want to hold coffee for the entire trip, or about to transfer from a train to a bus, so you don't want to waste time buying a pack of gum, or going to your parked car, in which case you can stop off at a grocery store or make coffee when you get home. And no one from the community is going to walk across a giant parking lot, climb two flights of stairs and cross a major roadway for a "convenience" store.

But Sunalta's station is a little different -- for one, there's no parking, and few bus transfers, so most people using the station are walking there. For another, the station front door is actually at ground level, and for a third, it's only a short way into downtown so your coffee won't get cold. I always thought that the ground floor of the station and the plaza would be a decent spot for an indie coffee shop (and getting better as more residential is built nearby).

 

[Mountain Man]

I think Bridgeland is winning now, great momentum in that area, and the amenities are also great! Just need a proper grocery store now.

 

[Cowtown]

Bridgeland is kicking ass and taking names. It won't be long before the north side of 1st Ave sees development and things will change even more than they are.