City council has scaled back the scope of redevelopment plans for the former Holy Cross hospital site after hearing from residents that massive towers would impact their sleepy neighbourhood.
Mission residents pleaded with council yesterday to scuttle area redevelopment plans that would allow towers and high density development on the 3.28-hectare site in the heart of the trendy inner city community.
A concept plan for the site envisioned 22-storey residential towers — covering 60 per cent of the site’s footprint — office space for health care facilities, as well as a small portion for commercial use. Peter Atkinson of the Cliff Bungalow-Mission Community Association said residents have deep concerns about the impact of dropping high rise towers and increasing the density in an already well-established neighbourhood.
“It feels like those towers would be overpowering and is out of scale with the community,” he said.
Area Ald. John Mar successfully pushed for the site’s developers to drop the maximum height to 20-storeys but noted the site’s redevelopment is essential for Calgary.
