A plan for big-box retail development at the base of Canada Olympic Park (COP) slopes has been nixed by the City of Calgary.
The proposal, which would have included approximately 22 hectares of land, was voted down by city council in mid-June.
WinSport Canada would have used cash from the sale of the land to help pay down some of its debts and also to fund athletics programs.
WinSport’s COP location is one of the most prominent training centres in the country for high-performance athletes. It has also seen millions of dollars spent on development in the last few years on recreation facilities aimed at the public, including new arena space.
The vote against the big-box development proposal on the west end of Calgary along the Trans-Canada Highway is seen as an indication city officials are looking for more than just big-box sprawl, even in the suburbs away from light-rail transit lines.
Among other things, the plan would have required major upgrading work at the Trans-Canada intersection with Beaufort Road.
While the decision was supported by community activists in the area, alderman Gord Lowe worried the city may simply be exporting development and tax benefits outside its borders to the MD of Rocky View, where big-box development has been proposed to the west of the city. Rocky View is already a prominent player in the power-centre business as home of the sprawling Cross Iron Mills retail complex north of the city.
This article from the August 2012 Western Investor.
