Proposed apartment project raises concern for local grocer

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on January 15, 2025.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

A proposal to build two new apartment complexes on 13 Street South has neighbours concerned about parking congestion and a loss of privacy. But developers say the project would have a positive impact on the area.
On Tuesday, the public may hear whether or not the projects will proceed when city council meets for the first time in the new year and addresses public hearings on matters that were held during their final meeting of 2024 on Dec. 12.
The owners of London Road Market and other residents fear negative consequences to the London Road and Victoria Park neighbourhoods if council approves the construction of two apartment buildings across from each other on 13th St. adjacent to 6 Ave. S.
One unit would be located on the parcel of land at 537, 539 and 543 13 St. S. The other proposed building is situated at 524, 528 and 532 13 St. S. Both parcels are presently vacant.
Reports to council on both properties submitted by senior community planner Ross Kilgour suggest the projects would be beneficial to the neighbourhoods. London Road’s population has fallen about 30 per cent since its peak in the 1950s, according to Kilgour, while Victoria Park’s has remained flat and, like other older neighbourhoods, has likely fallen.
“Adding more homes into highly accessible, central areas such as this leads to increased walkability and reduced traffic impacts when compared to adding the same number of homes into neighbourhoods on the edge of the city, for two reasons:
1. People living in a more central, walkable location such as this have a greater number of travel options available to them. For example, the edge of Downtown is an approximately 10-minute walk or 3-minute cycle from this location.
2. Even when people choose to drive, being located more centrally typically means driving distances and times are shorter. This means less resulting traffic and congestion on the roads, less air and water pollution, and less greenhouse gas emissions, for everyone.
Further, adding more homes in this location would create more ‘eyes on the street,’ which generally leads to improved (real and perceived) safety on surrounding streets,” states the City’s submissions.
Both projects are located about three blocks from the edge of downtown and two-and-a-half blocks from the Warehouse District.
For both proposals, Kilgour stated that “no concerns have been identified” by City technical staff.
But Duane and David Gurr of the family-owned London Road Market disagree. They feel the 0.5 onsite parking stalls allotted for each apartment unit will create congestion in the neighbourhood. They also worry that residents will use their store’s parking lot. The Gurrs say they need a certain amount of vehicle traffic per day for London Road Market to be sustainable.
The store, which has been in business at its present location for nearly a century, has an average of 675 customers per day and about 575 customer vehicles per day will use the parking lot’s 30 stalls. The Gurrs say their business will be impacted if residents of either complex use their lot. Duane and wife Wendy have owned the business for 34 years and he has been with it for 53 years in total.
They also fear the impact on the 53-foot trailer trucks that have to back into the delivery bay to deliver products. Ninety per cent of current sales are delivered via those trucks.
Original plans for the apartment complexes called for the construction of six-storey buildings, higher than permitted under present land use bylaws, and the construction of 49 units in each or 47 with two main floor commercial units. The Gurrs say the latter would also require parking for staff and customers.
They and numerous others either spoke or made written submissions to the public hearing.
Kendal Hachkowski, managing director of developer Sumus Property Group, feels the projects will enhance the neighbourhoods and that the company has made efforts to mitigate concerns about those projects and a similar one proposed for 510 6 Ave. S., the site of the old Alberta Meat Market.
With the projects located on major transit routes,  the apartments are geared towards tenants who don’t use vehicles and each building will have main floor interior bicycle parking.
The height of the buildings – another source of controversy among residents – is being reduced from six stories to five with parts of the buildings facing existing residential housing having setbacks of three stories.
Plans have also eliminated all main floor windows that face residential buildings.
Hachkowski said in an interview this week that, in response to open house feedback regarding shading, view angles and shadows, the developers have cut down the height of the buildings which will also reduce sightlines into people’s yards while cutting down on shadows.
And there will only now be a maximum of 39 units per building with potential commercial tenants now being basically off the radar. What the City has put in for rezoning is different from the current concept, says Hachkowski.
“We’re asking for the option in the zoning to do main-floor commercial, but that would take away residential units,” said Hachkowski. And while “a good chunk of the neighbourhood really wants us to do commercial because they want to have additional amenities, because of the complaints we’ve had on parking et cetera, I would say we’re shying away from that just to lessen the perceived impact of the sites,” he added.
And with the heavy traffic along the routes where the projects are planned, the developer doesn’t see the units having a noticeable increase in congestion.
The projects will have roughly 20 stalls per each 39 unit building with roughly half of tenants who are expected to have a vehicle or need one.
Hachkowski pointed out there has been virtually no new urban high-density housing construction in Lethbridge since the 1970s due in part to zoning and project feasibility, and there is a significant demographic of people who don’t want to own vehicles or who don’t rely on them to the same extent as in the past.
Eighty-five per cent of the proposed units will be market rate housing and the other 15 per cent will be considered affordable units aligned with CMHC guidelines.
“Really, we do not have great affordable options anywhere in urban Lethbridge,” he adds.
To improve transit and increase commercial services in the urban core, densifying the core is needed, he said. So all four sites were specifically picked because they’re on direct transit routes to core hubs such as downtown, the University of Lethbridge, Chinook Regional Hospital and Lethbridge Polytechnic. And all sites are within walking distance to the downtown core and available services there. The 13th St. locations are also accessible to the 3 Ave. S. business district, he said.
Sumus had two big goals with its urban housing program, which includes four sites, the other including the old Lethbridge Hotel site downtown, which doesn’t require rezoning.
“If we can build out a program where we’re doing multiple that are similar, then we can get some efficiency out of the program,” said Hachkowski.
While London Road Market’s owners say developers never talked to them about the development, Hachkowski says staff from the company have visited the store. The developers have also done two open houses at Sumus headquarters in the Post Office building downtown which Hachkowski says the London Road Market owners did attend.
The Gurrs and other residents question where tenants will park if there isn’t enough space on site for them. The Gurrs feel any spillover parking will occur on their property or that of a business kitty corner to them.
David Gurr said parking “is the lifeblood of London Road Market’s business” with the store needing parking turnover to be sustainable. The Gurrs say it takes 28 stalls of their 30 stalls to keep the store in business, with profits being generated by the other two. It’s s a fine line between staying open and going out of business.
The key to their success, say the Gurrs, is to keep those parking stalls turning over. They also say the potential increase in business from the projects is “nowhere near” what they stand to lose, and that potentially means customers who have supported London Road Market longer than Duane has been a part of it, he says.
“If the City approves this, that’s going to take the principal of ‘shop local’ and change it to ‘screw local,'” Duane said bluntly.
“I’ll spend the rest of my life chasing cars out of here to survive.”
His sentiments are echoed by 39-year-old son David, a fourth-generation family butcher and second-generation grocer who wants to train future generations of Gurrs in the family business.
“I want to give the same opportunities to my children” that he had, said David.
Duane said he understands the need to have more housing and to have the best return on investment but he calls the proposed projects “just so wrong. It’s going to cause a lot of grief in the neighbourhood.”

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