This is a corner lot that used to be home to a local church on a residential street in a northeast community renfrewAnd its future has become a rallying point for those who live in the area.
A rezoning application for the property at the intersection of Radner Avenue and Remington Road NE, has been submitted to city of calgary by Keystone Architecture.
According to area residents, the rezoning is to make way for a six-story, 60-unit multi-residential building on the site.
“It’s a big mistake,” Chris Nannarone, who lives across the street from the site, told Global News.
“They are moving from residential bungalows to six-storey blocks.”
Now a group of neighbors have come together to raise concerns about the rezoning application.
They’ve filed a petition and are fundraising to ensure they have expert help as the application makes its way to City Hall.
Gord Strasdin, who lives down the street from the site, says he thinks the transition to a six-story building on the property is too much for the community, and would like the developer to explore more’missing middle‘Type developments such as row-houses or townhomes.
“We understand there’s going to be growth. We understand there’s going to be densification in our neighborhoods,” Strasdin said.
“We just think that we have to be transitional and respectful and contextually sensitive.”
Neighbors told Global News there are a number of concerns about what could be allowed on the site if the rezoning application is approved.
Those concerns include the size of the potential construction and its effect on a quiet neighborhood street.
Galina Ursu, who has three children who walk to school in the area, said she is concerned about traffic safety.
“It is a very family-friendly area and we would like to see it remain that way in the future,” she said.
However, the area’s councilor believes the land is suitable for a high density build, and said it meets planning guidelines in the North Hill Communities Local Area Plan.
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Ward 9 Co. Gian-Carlo Carrara said that since the site is located near two schools, a playground and large fields, it made sense to add density to the area.
“Is it possible to build a six-story building on this site that enhances rather than detracts from the neighborhood? Absolutely,” Cara told Global News. “Is this project going to do that? We don’t have any idea and we have to focus on this.
The property was home to the Renfrew United Church for many years before the building fell into “severe disrepair,” according to a post on the United Church’s Chinook Winds Region website.
The vacant building was torn down after several incidents of vandalism and vandalism, but the property is still owned by the United Church of Canada.
Carra said he shares in the “neighborhood’s outrage” about the site’s future because he would like to see benefits return to the community, similar to the redevelopment of the One. East Church in Ogden Including a daycare, a coffee shop and community space.
“All these things have to be decided carefully. Both in terms of the form of the building, but when you’re talking about a piece of land that’s owned by a church, it’s also about the programmatic approach to how we’re serving the community,” Carrera said. .
“There’s an obligation.”
In an email to Global News, a representative for the United Church said it is still very early in the process and no decisions have been made to determine what will be built on the land if the rezoning is approved.
Joel den Haan, United Church property and co-ordinating consultant for New Church Development, said: “We would have to re-zon this way because the current church use was no longer sustainable and we needed to do something to make the land property run properly into the future.” need.” council, said.
“We are intending at this point to retain some church functionality on the site, but it needs to have a facelift and needs to be financially viable for us.”
Den Haan said decisions around a build would come during the development permit stage, and the rezoning application is to set a policy envelope “in which a potential project will take shape.”
But Strasdin said there is widespread community-wide opposition to major development on the site, and neighbors will continue to work to find a solution.
Strasdin said, “We think we’re in line with what the city wants to say.” “But we’re a little confused that we keep getting this blunt, big tool thrown at us.”
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