Letters from community members sent to our Alderman

Dear Ms. Farrell,

I am writing to express my opinion about the suitability of the application to rezone the section of 19th street in between 1st ave and Kensington Road NW. I attended the Open House yesterday evening at the West Hillhurst Community centre. Although I live several blocks away from this location and my home would not be immediately impacted, I feel that an apartment building of this nature in this location would detract from what my family enjoys about our neighborhood today.

While the developer's position is that this location is a node of higher density development that supports this type of structure, I heartily disagree. It may be a node of small commercial buildings, but there are no buildings of the proposed size anywhere nearby and certainly not any along 19th street. The comparison that the developer is using to the rest of Kensington Road development is also highly inappropriate because, the fact is, the proposed building will take up 1 lot along Kensington road and 6 lots along 19th street. Hence, we should be looking at how this building would fit on 19th street not Kensington road and my position is that it would not fit.

The implications of adding a building of such density (67 units all between 600 and 850 sq feet) to this location are huge. For one, it is very difficult to imagine how the access to the parking garage off the alley would work. There is not a lot of room for extra congestion around 1st ave or Kensington road in terms of cars driving in and out of the alley to access their parking. In addition, there will undoubtedly be far more cars associated with the condo owners than the parking spots allowed. It is unrealistic to think that each 1 bedroom unit would only have 1 car associated with it. There will be many couples in these units who have one car each. There will be at least 100 vehicles associated with this building and only about half that many parking stalls. The overflow parking onto the surrounding streets simply cannot be supported as there are already parking issues around 1st and 2nd ave on 19th street. Furthermore, even owners with underground parking stalls are likely to park on the street during the day if there is congestion getting to and from their parking stall. I also wonder what the impact on the business owners along 19th street would be.
One of the advantages currently of doing business in this location is that it is close to many traffic corridors but yet there is usually a parking spot to be found - for FREE!!

Another concern I have is related to the traffic along 19th street and the surrounding avenues that people already use as shortcuts to get to 14th street and to crowchild trail. An extra 100-120 people driving around the area (not to mention their visitors) will make a material impact on traffic volume. 19th street is already very difficult to cross ( I know that this will be partially addressed by the results of the traffic study), it is dangerous for the many children who cross this street every day to go to Queen Elizabeth school. We don't want these parents to also have to resort to driving their kids because they feel it is too dangerous for them to walk
- this would just mean more people using their cars!

My most significant concern with regards to this proposal is the density of the building itself that would be allowed if this rezoning were to occur.
Cramming 67 units into this space just does not seem to be taking the nature of west hillhurst into account. West Hillhurst is the type of neighborhood that people move into and stay for a lifetime. The families that live here do not move to different communities every few years as is more common in newer less established communities. People here want to stay. The reality is that a building that offers only small, low to mid quality apartments will have a more transient population that are less committed to the community because the chances are, as their needs change, they will probably leave the neighborhood.

I am actually in favour of redevelopment and rezoning of this site just not in the way that is being proposed in this application. I do like low density multi family housing here but it would need to fit with the community. I support the idea of work/live units and I feel very strongly that any building here should have a strong street presence. This is why a 4 storey building is so inappropriate here. A high density building increases anonymity and decreases commitment to the community. I think that a combination of low density town homes, and some apartment style units with some commercial space would be a very suitable addition to the neighborhood.
A multifamily dwelling erected in this neighborhood should reflect the diversity of the neighbourhood. Maybe a small building with a variety of unit sizes from 600 square feet to 2000 square feet (but most around 1000-1300 sq ft) so that we would find people of all different stages of life - a reflection of the community already in west hillhurst! I would support a building of less than 20 units here that has some commercial space and underground parking.


 

Dear Druh:

RE: City of Calgary Corporate Planning Department File #: LOC2009-0014

I am a resident very likely to be affected by the proposal to rezone and ultimately build a 4 storey 60+ unit complex on the corner of 19th Street and Kensington Road. I would like to express my concerns for this precedent setting application.

Firstly, the complex will be of a density that far outstrips any current development on the 19th Street corridor and the nearby stretches of Kensington Road (prior to 14th Street and Crowchild). A 60+ unit (even a
40+ unit) would increase the traffic and parking concerns considerably
within the area and especially down 1st Avenue (where I live). This road is already heavily used by customers of the shop on 19th Street and would further increase with the inadequate parking proposed by this development and impact residents AND current business owners.

Secondly, the height of the complex, proposed at 14m, but the zoning would allow for 16m, is far higher than any surrounding building and would not only look bad but would cast a shadow on the surrounding homes (one home has not been drawn in correctly on the shadow study and would be under shadow for a considerable amount of time).

Thirdly, and perhaps my biggest issue, is that the complex would take over almost all of the area of the 6 R2 lots and would be the largest footprint of its kind in the region. Very few buildings (unless tower blocks) take this sort of space.

Fourthly, 19th street is not a 4 lane road and is not designed to be similar to 14th Street and Crowchild and therefore cannot support this sort of densification that would ultimately follow this first proposed step. The current development of 19th Street is supportive of residential and small businesses in a family friendly neighbourhood - where there are MANY children living and playing.

I believe a more appropriate development would strive to maintain a much lower profile to the area and not take over the entire footprint of the site, and be of a significantly lower density. I am not opposed to new businesses at street level but they would require much better parking - probably at street level so as not to take impact the likes of 1st Avenue.

I do hope you'll take this information into consideration if and when you see this application. I know of very few residents in support of this project.