Airdrie council approves new townhouse development

A development permit for the construction of a townhouse development, comprised of 49 units in Midtown along 8 Street southwest has been approved by Airdrie City Council. 

According to the council agenda report provided to council, The applicant is Norr Architects Engineers Planners, on behalf of the landowner, 1908151 Alberta Ltd. (Shane Homes) applied for a development permit for the development of townhouses.

"The proposed Dwelling and townhouse use is a Discretionary Use under DC-52 District. The development density under DC-52 District ranges from 112 units/ha up to 136 units/ha. The townhouse development proposes a total of 49 dwelling units, which results in a density of 51 units/ha."

Shengxu Li, with Planning and Development, told council that initially, the applicant was interested in two separate four-storey apartment-style buildings with underground parking facilities, which would have been within the density range required by the DC-52 district.

"However, the findings of the geotechnical investigation conducted by JSA Engineering found that the soil and groundwater conditions of the site don't favour the construction of the multi-storey apartment-style building with underground parking facilities," he said.

Li noted that although the proposal density does not meet the strict density requirement after a review administration determined that the proposed variance will not unduly interfere with the maintenance of the neighbourhood.

The agenda report added that while The Municipal Planning Commission (MPC) reviewed the application version with 51 units and supporting documents at their meeting on March 7, they expressed concerns.

" .. At the substantial development density variance from the minimum density required in the DC-52, they believed that the site was a good location for higher-density development. However, they did acknowledge the challenges presented by the geotechnical findings completed by the developer."

It was noted that a recommendation to Council to approve the development permit application was lost on a tie vote. 

Parking and traffic issues and solutions

City documents underlined that during the land use amendment stage, concerns were discussed by council about the ability for traffic to head south on 8 Street out of the site, considering the potential higher density development scenario on the site.   

"The addition of an all-turns access to 8 Street from the proposed development was not supported by [city] administration. The 8 Street corridor is the highest volume north-south arterial road with an average daily traffic volume count of 18,752 trips in 2023. This is expected to grow to 28,000 trips by 2028 and 33,000 trips by 2039. This future volume is similar to the current traffic levels on portions of Veterans BV and Yankee Valley BV currently."

Li added that the application presented to the Municipal Planning Commission (MPC) proposed to utilize existing joint access with the Midtown Plaza commercial development for vehicle access.

"An emergency access point was also proposed off Midtown Boulevard southwest on the northeast side of the subject site. Following the MPC meeting, administration had further discussions with the applicant to explore the possibility of establishing a second access point on Midtown Boulevard."

Finally, it was decided that the proposal of having a mid-block southbound right-in/right-out access was appropriate.

"... Because it is believed to have minimal impact on the adjacent properties while providing an access from/to the proposed development. However, to provide enough space for emergency vehicle access, two dwelling units must be removed from the development, which reduces the number of units from 51 to 49," city documents explained.

Exploring different options regarding parking and traffic, administration and the developer of a new unit of Townhouses settled on an option - as seen in the diagram option C was chosen. (Graphic credit to City of Airdrie)

As per parking, Li said that the development proposes to park stalls in the form of attached garage(s).

"This meets the parking requirements for townhouse development. Although the LUB does not require visitor parking stalls for townhouses, the proposal development still provides 10 visitor parking stalls in the common area."

Councillors’ concerns

Several councillors expressed some of their concerns prior to voting in favour of the development permit. Though Councillor Candice Kolson did support to permit, she said that because the site is under the Direct Control as sited within the LUB, no public hearings were held.

"No neighbourhood notification needs to go out until the development permit [DP] is approved. Once the DP is approved, neighbours' only recourse to have their voices heard - should they still be in opposition - would be to go to the Court of King's Bench. Was there any consideration from planning to send some letters to those neighbours letting them know that there's going to be a major change?" she asked.

However, Gail Gibeau, with city administration added that because the proposal is a lesser density it is in a sense less impactful.

Councillor Ron Chapman queried the presenters whether the townhomes would be part of a condominium board, which Li said they would be.

"If it's a condo board, is that considered private parking and that wouldn't be enforced by municipal enforcement at that time? The condo board would have to enforce that parking. If you're parked on the street because there is no on-street parking in front of those units... If somebody does park in front of those units, there's no room to get by with a firetruck."

Gibeau stated that such enforcement would be the onus of the condo board.

Deputy Mayor Al Jones dually cited parking concerns, saying that one can't regulate the number of cars prospective homeowners may have.

"They can come with 12 cars for all we know; we can't predict that. We've got to go by the procedures and the policies we have in place." 

However, Councillor Heather Spearman said that speaking from personal experience, condo boards are very strict in enforcing rules.

"I can tell you that there is no greater law enforcement in the world than a condo board with something to prove. I can tell you that if there are concerns around parking, there will be people who will be on it," she said. "I am optimistic about this setup. I think it's a great place for it. I think it's going to give us some diversity and housing within Airdrie, that we desperately need. I think it's future thinking."

Now that council has approved the permit, in accordance with the Municipal Government Act and the City of Airdrie Public Notification Bylaw, the decision of the Council will be advertised online for 21 days. 

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