Corridor Development

I don’t oppose an 8-plex on a parcel like the one next to the MLA office at Gaetz and 59th. But blanket zoning everything within 800m of a primary—and eventually secondary—transit corridor is reckless and poorly planned. As Gareth has pointed out—and I agree—we already have prime areas for redevelopment, like Capstone, Michener, and the old railyards. I also support mixed-use buildings—shops on the ground floor with apartments above—like the westernmost building in Capstone. Our downtown could evolve in that direction. This is the first city I’ve seen where so many downtown shops are single-storey with no residential or service space above. There’s real opportunity—not necessarily on Ross Street, but across Red Deer—for us to build up instead of out. And that doesn’t mean placing 8-plexes in the middle of single-family neighborhoods either.