Brentwood’s urban plan aims to tackle city sprawl Proposed plan could usher in new era of redevelopment in Calgary
Y
ou get up, go to work, knock off a little early for a quick shower at home before meeting some friends at the pub and eventually heading to bed to do it all again the next day. Sound familiar? Here’s the twist: you did it all within a few blocks of the community you call home. A development plan for Brentwood proposes to enable residents to work, shop, sleep and play all within a few blocks. The redevelopment plan around the Brentwood LRT station, once seen as controversial, is now being heralded by some as a major turning point in the way Calgary is to grow. The Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP) calls for large-scale construction of apartment buildings, office towers, pedestrian-friendly streets, and a vast array of retail shops and restaurants – all within walking distance of the LRT station. “Calgary is going to grow regardless of what we do,” said Filomena Gomez, a long-time Brentwood resident. “The question is how we grow.” According to Statistics Canada and the US Census Bureau, Calgary covers an area roughly the same size as New York City, with only about one-eighth of the population. “We have to stop thinking as if we can keep growing until we hit the mountains,” Gomez said. “That’s just not sustainable. That would be saddling the next generation with huge infrastructure costs. Everything we build we have to pay to maintain.” The costs of urban sprawl are hard to measure precisely, but its effects are noticeable — for example in the traffic jams that many Calgarians face daily. Sprawl also takes a large bite out of city coffers in the form of police and fire dispatch, managing schools, and laying down roads and sewage systems to service new suburban communities. “Now Calgarians are realizing what gridlock really is,” said Gomez, who has lived in Calgary all her life. “Twenty years ago, you could literally drive from one end of the city to the other in 20 minutes on the Deerfoot. There was no real rush-hour traffic either.” Cheri Macaulay also lives in Brentwood and is an organizer for Civic Camp, a social networking organization for urban activists in Calgary. She praised the Brentwood ARP as the “first large-scale, truly transit-oriented redevelop-
GEOFFREY PICKETTS | gpicketts@cjournal.ca ment plan that is actually now being applied.” “All new developments (around the Brentwood LRT) have to be people-scaled and pedestrian-friendly not automobile-scaled.” If that type of civic thinking sounds radical, it shouldn’t. Kevin Barton, the senior planner for the Brentwood ARP, said: “Transitoriented development has been a strong planning principle for decades in other Photo: Geoffrey Picketts/Calgary Journal cities. The Brentwood LRT station is the centrepiece of the area redevelopment plan. “In Calgary, however, the surrounding landscape everywhere to satisfy most of their daily needs, but the is easy to develop and it is a city where the majority of new residents (in highrise apartments) will be driving far people were demanding low-density, single-detached less. It’s kind of funny.” homes for a long time.” While change may not always be easy for everybody While market demand may be changing, the new to swallow, Gomez urged Calgarians to look at the bigger development plans have not come without its detractors picture. in Brentwood. “Calgarians tend to be “The development is “Transit-oriented development has insular with their lives and going to bring an injection For us, it’s been a strong planning principle for communities. of a different demographic more about how to make to the community and this a better community for decades in other cities.” that scares a lot of people,” the next generation, for my Gomez said. “They’re used kids,” she said. — Kevin Barton, to the status quo and a quiet “In the long-run it will be City of Calgary senior planner neighbourhood.” the best thing not only for Barton said the biggest Brentwood but for Calgary,” concerns from residents she added. “were mostly about roads and automobile congestion in “With more jobs and housing on top of LRT stations, the community.” there will be more use of transit and far less people on “We have a strange relationship with our cars,” Gomez the road,” said Barton. said. “We want to be able to drive, and drive anywhere we He continued, adding that if the Brentwood project is want. But we don’t want anybody else driving down our successful and creates demand, the most likely candiresidential street.” dates for the next redevelopment plans are Lion’s Park, Barton also dismissed those concerns as hypocritiBanff Trail, Chinook Centre and Anderson LRT stations. cal: “It’s the pot calling the kettle black. They’re driving
Construction begins in earnest on high-rise buildings in Brentwood. November 2011 | calgaryjournal.ca
Photo: Geoffrey Picketts/Calgary Journal
5