A proposed 9-storey, mixed-use tower at 3400 Spruce Drive SW would override Calgary’s Westbrook Local Area Plan and intensify development beside one of the city’s most sensitive environmental corridors. Sign and tell Council no before May 28.

Spruce Cliff is a residential community bordering Douglas Fir Trail, Edworthy Park, and the Bow River escarpment — green spaces and recreational corridors used daily by residents, seniors, families, and children.

We support seniors housing. We support affordable housing. We support thoughtful, well-planned residential redevelopment in our community, including the renewal of Spruce Cliff Downs to serve more seniors.

What we are asking Council to reject is a proposal that exceeds both the current zoning and the City of Calgary’s own adopted policy for this site.

What’s actually being proposed

The applicant is seeking to rezone 3400 Spruce Drive SW from M-C1 (Multi-Residential — Contextual Low Profile) to MU-1 (Mixed Use — General) with modifiers permitting:

• A 31-metre, 9-storey building (the current M-C1 zoning permits a maximum of 14 metres / approximately 3–4 storeys)
• A Floor Area Ratio of 3.0
• Commercial / retail uses at street level

This is more than double the height currently allowed on the site.

Why this matters

The Westbrook Communities Local Area Plan (LAP) — the Council-approved policy that guides development in our area — designates this parcel as “Low” Building Scale, which caps building height at 6 storeys.

The applicant’s own submission to the City acknowledges this. Their letter to Planning and Development states that the proposed 9-storey height is the “only apparent non-conformity to the LAP” (Section 2.2.1.3) and asks Council to approve it anyway.

The 6-storey cap is not arbitrary. It exists because this part of Spruce Cliff is the northern transition zone of the Westbrook area — a deliberate step-down from denser nodes near Westbrook LRT into the established neighbourhood, the river escarpment, and the ecologically sensitive Douglas Fir Trail corridor.

Approving this application as submitted would:

• Override the public planning process that produced the Westbrook Communities LAP after years of community engagement
• Set a precedent for future applications across Westbrook to ignore Building Scale limits
• Introduce commercial uses, deliveries, and traffic patterns the area’s residential designation was never planned for
• Add pressure on local streets, parking, and pedestrian safety adjacent to Cedar Crescent Park, the Wildflower Arts Centre, the Association for the Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured (ARBI), and all of the existing residential buildings (that comply with the LAP)
• Increase development intensity adjacent to the Douglas Fir Trail environmental corridor and Bow River escarpment

What we are asking for

We are not opposing the redevelopment of Spruce Cliff Downs. Affordable seniors housing is needed and welcome. We are asking that the project conform to the planning policy this community and the City already agreed to.

We ask Calgary Planning Commission and City Council to:

1. Uphold the 6-storey “Low” Building Scale designation in the Westbrook Communities LAP
2. Reject the 9-storey / 31m / FAR 3.0 proposal as submitted
3. Reject the MU-1 mixed-use commercial rezoning in a residential transition area
4. Require a revised proposal that conforms to the LAP — a 6-storey, residential seniors housing project, which this community supports

Sign this petition if you believe:

• Calgary’s adopted Local Area Plans should mean something
• Affordable seniors housing should be built — at the scale our community planned for
• Commercial rezoning should follow community planning, not bypass it
• Douglas Fir Trail, Edworthy Park, and the river escarpment deserve protected transition zones
• Spruce Cliff residents deserve development that follows the rules, not exceptions to them

Your written comments to the City carry more weight than signatures alone. Send them before May 28, 2026:

Carl Stanford, File Manager

Carl.Stanford@calgary.ca

Reference: LOC2026-0048

You can learn more at https://www.calgary.ca/development/permits/get-involved.html or call 403.268.5311.