April 28, 2021
Hello fellow Willowridge residents,
We wanted to provide information to everyone about important community redevelopment discussions that are taking place that will impact Willowridge residents and change the way redevelopment will occur in our area. This information includes the recent controversial discussions about the Guidebook for Great Communities recently debated at City Hall with widespread media attention and numerous articles written. The intent is that the Guidebook for Great Communities will provide a baseline to inform decisions for each Local Area Plan.
In fact, the Local Area Planning process has already started for our community and was initiated in 2019 with Phase 1 “Envision” finalized last year. Please refer to www.engage.calgary.ca to view all of the information. With COVID impacts, the process has been delayed.
Willow Park and Maple Ridge are part of the Heritage Communities Local Area Planning Project that also includes Kelvin Grove, Eagle Ridge, Chinook Park, Kingsland, Haysboro, Southwood, Acadia, and Fairview; and, three Industrial Communities (Fairview Industrial, East Fairview Industrial, and Glendeer Business Park).
Phase 1 “Envision” was intended to educate citizens about the importance of redevelopment, obtain feedback from the community about what is great about our community and what concerns we have for potential redevelopment. The input from Phase 1 will then be used to create potential options for a draft Local Area Plan that will then be evaluated as part of Phase 2 which is scheduled for Spring/Summer 2021. A final plan will be developed in Fall/Winter of 2021/2022 and presented to City Council for review and decision.
Our community was underrepresented during Phase 1 with Maple Ridge at 9% participation and Willow Park at 17%. We want to increase our participation as Phase 2 is absolutely critical.
It is vital that we are engaged in this process because the potential impacts are significant and could include multi-unit housing, greater density, and loss of green space among other things. We know we can’t stop development but we do want to ensure that any redevelopment is done considering what the residents of our community envision over the long term.
We provided feedback for the City Council decision on the Guidebook as well where we communicated that we could not support the document in its current form. There is a great deal of information floating around about this so to summarize, it is very high level with the potential impacts not clearly identified. We were pleased to see that the Guidebook was not approved and will be amended for further review.
The Willowridge Community Association is part of the critical working group that is involved in this process. If you are interested in supporting the community, please let us know if you have interest in participating in one of the subcommittees we are in the process of developing.
Also, we encourage all residents to go to www.engage.calgary.ca to sign up to receive updates and notices about open houses and other efforts to engage with our community. We will advise of any potential open house opportunities and will continue to provide updates as we work through this important process with the city.
Gord & Sheri Rouse – Willow Ridge Board of Directors
March 29, 2021
Residents of Maple Ridge and Willow Park,
Many of you have joined the conversation regarding the City of Calgary Planning Department’s proposed ‘Guidebook for Great Communitiess’. There has been significant input to Calgary City Council over the three days of hearings, including a submission from WRCA Board Director for Civic Affairs, Greg Humphreys.
Greg took our message to Council, (read our message here)) which expressed our concerns over the process. He advised that we (WRCA) cannot endorse the Guidebook Planning Bylaw, as there are serious concerns over its content and its development processes.
The City of Calgary has agreed with our position (along with many other communities) and has sent City Administration back to the Planning and Urban Development Committee to either improve the message, and/or improve the Bylaw.
Maple Ridge and Willow Park have for years been on the periphery of inner-city development bylaw controversies, as we have been outside of the affected zones. However, the zones are now reaching further out, and we are now considered a Legacy or Heritage community. Changes that previously affected only the city core, now affect Maple Ridge and Willow Park.
The WRCA Board is reforming our committees and we would welcome any new volunteers that would like to learn more about proposed changes, or to participate with our Civic Affairs portfolio. Your WRCA Board is only able to support community residents if you support the Board and participate in our Committees. Please join in and learn more about the City of Calgary’s growth plans and how they will affect you and your property.
E-mail us at community@mywillowridge.ca, or to Greg at civicaffairs@mywillowridge.ca
