Quote:
Originally Posted by horrorshow
These are just my opinions but...
First, I believe this is pretty much the "gateway" to downtown from the west along ninth and there is opportunity to create more of a of friendly, walkable, environment which a connection to shaw millenium park, continuing to the river along 11th.
Second, I don't think you should approach downtown and go from a park and low rise buildings to tall towers. Their should be a gradual rise.
Third, the current design does nothing for 9th avenue in terms of contributing to a pedestrian environment.
But hey? As long as you contribute to the skyline you can forego the whole ground floor, public and pedestrian environment right? 
Once again, these are just my opinions  |
I agree with your opinion, mainly in that development the West End should focus on ways to optimize assets that make it liveable. However, as one of Calgary's highest-density and most fully-serviced communities, I think the West End should take on all the population it can handle while continuing to integrate participation with Millennium Park, the Bow River, 8th Ave, 11th St, 8th St, the old Science Centre (whatever may become of it), the armoury, access to Kensington, etc. Even 10th St feels like it has potential to one day become a pleasant residential-retail corridor with its double row of trees, fledgling retailers, and annual block party. I see more people walking their tiny dogs there all the time. The West End also can do more to take advantage of its position as the natural terminus for various parades in the city. Also, IIRC the West End was the final destination of the most famous visitor to ever set hoof in our city:
The May 13, 2010 Moose. If fact, I believe he was finally cornered in the CIDEX site! Deserves a statue to commemorate it, don't you think?
In addition to casting a bronze moose statue, here are some improvements I'd like to see in the West End:
1) Reduce 5th Ave b/w 11th and 9th st from 5 to 2 or 3 traffic lanes. Only 2 lanes feed into it anyway! Create pedestrian bulbs and/or street parking with a double row of trees. Save room for a future separated bike way. There's plenty of room.
2) Improve the sidewalk at the north end of 10th St. Currently, it kind of just tapers away, inviting everyone walking between Kerby Station and Kensington to wander through the dusty lot behind Avatamsaka or j-walk to the river pathway.
3) Conceive an ultimate plan for what 9th St will look like once 201 is underground.
4) Currently the area has some of the worst sidewalks in the city. I don't remember the details in their ARP, but due to the dense population goals and high traffic in the West End, I think the area should pursue an aggressively high standard of sidewalks in the city. Double row of trees and nearly ubiquitous street retail. This comes with the caveat that we must allow maximum densities (in accordance with shadow bylaws) to support retail.
My main critique of CIDEX is also the apparent lack of street-level interaction, at least on the south side. Overall, I think the more people live Downtown the better, and anything's better than a parking lot. Personally, I like the crown feature. It kind of looks like if Neura and Ovation had a baby. This is probably one of the best sites in town for this kind of development.
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