Why have I never built a house in Elboya (and a lot of other similar Elbow River areas)? Well, number one is the ridiculous land value expectations. Like $800k for a property on a typical 50x120 ft lot, that prevents a person from dabbling in the business. That is some serious money and I don’t believe the amenities/location/quality of the Elboya community justify such a sum. Plus I haven’t been in the business of building $2M houses, there aren’t always a plethora of buyers. I think a 50x120 ft flat lot with a lane accessed garage isn’t necessarily special enough to warrant the asking price, and the regulatory system is too rigid and archaic to allow any creativity on what can be done to create more viably price homes.

Based on some published reaction to the new Guidebook For Great Communities, http://calgaryguidebook.ca shown here, the general reaction to any change to the R1 communities will be met with a lot of resistance. This isnt a battle that interests me participating in, but I’d take sides with the city here. I dont think the R1 communities really have a ‘character’ worthy of preservation. These aren’t heritage homes, the one highlighted today is a total junker. If an area is so special that its land use needs to be frozen in time, then shouldn’t the individual homes be architecturally significant and worthy of protection? To me, a place that has character is somewhere you’d bring out of town guests to while they are visiting Calgary. These areas include the Riverwalk to the Peace Bridge, the 17 ave SW commercial district, and some of the great natural areas like Fish Creek or the Paskapoo slopes erratic trail. Not a 50’s era subdivision with a bunch of remnant bungalows with curly roof shingles.

Character is typically a NIMBY tool to protect established interests, in Calgary it is a tool to ring fence desirable areas and entrench class based divisions. The less dense areas are demanded protection via use of municipal powers to enforce a non-existent contract between the planning department and land owners who want to keep things exactly as they are, regardless of societal interests. I think we need a higher bar to determine what has character and needs real protection, and what is just a bunch of people who dont want anyone to park in front of their house.