Doing right by the East Paskapoo Slopes

City council must look at more than the bottom line in their decision, writes Karin Klassen.

From a distance, the fight over the East Paskapoo Slopes looks like the standard “pave paradise and put up a parking lot,” two solitudes of big developers and Alberta nature NIMBYs.

At issue is a huge swath of natural growth land you see when travelling the west side of Sarcee Trail, around the corner of the TransCanada Highway and towards Canada Olympic Park. A popular access point is a small gravel lot, where you often see a truck selling golf balls or frozen shrimp, as well as a row of SUVs with bike racks.

Also now apparent is signage advertising a massive new development. Both sides of this issue have been represented in full-page ads of late; lawn signs and car magnets dot communities. People who aren’t in the thick of it may be wondering just what is going on.

The total area of the Eastern Paskapoo Slopes is 260 acres. The proposed development would sit in the lower, flat 100 acres. The land was originally owned by CODA (now Win Sport) for Olympic use, which had tried to develop the area itself. This was always turned down by council, most recently in 2011, because of too many big-box stores in the mix. As a gateway to the city, no one wants another Macleod Trailconcrete welcome to Calgary.

The land was then sold to private developers, but approval of council is still required because of a number of zoning changes that would have to be OK’d. This is what’s going on in city council Monday.

This development is informally referred to as ‘Calgary’s Whistler,’ either a compliment or a slur, depending on whether that B.C. mountain community inspires you or makes you want to cry. There would be office towers and retail, restaurants, hotels and luxury condos for some 5,000 residents.

If you go to the Trinity Hills website, where to are directed by their ad, there is information about the 160 acres of park land they’re donating, the extensive community engagement they say they have had and an archeological study being conducted.

There are a lot of pretty pictures of what it looks like now.

Nowhere on their site, however, is a building plan. Nowhere are there renderings of what you’ll see from the road or what the community will actually look like — although images have been made available elsewhere.

For its part, the Save the Slopes group is on a tear to point out all the ways this development is just too big for the space (about the size of WestHills/Signal Hill shopping centre), doesn’t match the city’s municipal development plan and is heavily car dependent.

It will wreck the ecosystem, disrupt a wildlife corridor, fragment the recreational space, create drainage issues, and ruin historical and archeological gems, they say.

They want the development sidled up instead to an adjacent neighbourhood in order to save the “whole” of the space.

Plus, does Calgary really need another mall with all the ensuing traffic issues?

A lot of people will make money in the building and sales of this space. The city will collect an estimated $10 million in tax revenues annually (the developer’s ad says it has “unanimous” city planning support).

Still, south Calgary has Fish Creek Park, the north has Nose Hill. This is needed in the west; East Paskapoo Slopes really is “K-Country in the city.” With council focusing on pounding people into small spaces, they’re losing sight of the fact that livability includes recreation that means more than the odd patch of green space or the autobahn bike paths. The greatest cities in the world have gargantuan parks that people flock to; that’s the corollary to sardine-city by smart car.

People move here for the outdoor lifestyle. Monday, council is making a big decision that affects that.

Let’s hope they pay attention to more than the bottom line.

The greatest cities in the world have gargantuan parks that people flock to; that’s the corollary to sardine-city by smart car.