Negative reaction should have been expected

By Letter to the Editor on November 26, 2018.

I believe the city could have dispelled a lot of concern on the part of residents of the Connaught area if the proposed change of zoning in the open parcel of land that’s causing such a ruckus had included some definitive limits to what would be allowed.

Some points to ponder:

1) Connaught is an exclusive area and the residents are justified in their concerns that a townhouse complex or highrise condo could be allowed. They purchased in an R1 single family zoning area.

2) A controlled development plan with parameters that would only allow a single family upper end semi-detached bungalow style condo development would likely have been much more acceptable to Connaught residents.

When those same residents downsize from their larger homes (many two storeys), they may find such an attractive plan much to their liking. And they would still live in the area of their choice.

3) Prior to the original Connaught Development Plan being changed from allowing revenue and apartment sites to R1 zoning, Medicine Hat’s planning was to have no exclusive areas. The thinking was rather than have high end and low end (“may descend into slums”) areas, only mixed housing developments would be allowed. And so you see Crestwood, Southridge and Northeast Crescent Heights with mixed housing — duplexes, four-plexes and apartments.

4) In the 1970s the zoning in the Southeast Hill was changed by the city from R1 to R2 without any consultation whatever with property owners for the above reasoning.

5) The precedence has been established for changing parkland to developed land. The land to the south of the 600 block of Eighth Street S.W. was registered as natural parkland reserve. After many years, the city changed the zoning from parkland to allow an auto repair shop to be built, ignoring the wishes of the local residents who were firmly and loudly against it. That parkland was the only parkland in the whole quadrant of the S.W. hill.

6) The city’s plan is to have more infills to minimize the cost of extending service infrastructure to outlying areas.

To summarize, I believe the Connaught property owners are justified in their concerns. It would seem it’s the unknown factor that has Connaught residents up in arms. Would these same residents find an attractive single family condo development acceptable? Maybe. I guess we’ll never know if we don’t ask them. A commercial strip, a high rise, or townhouses are non-starters. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

John MacLaren

Medicine Hat

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