Springbank Hill development scaled back 40% but residents still worry about 85th Street gridlock

Developer Truman Homes has scaled back its Springbank Hill proposal by more than 40 per cent, cutting the Timber Ridge mixed-use development from an initial 1,997 homes to a maximum of 1,124. The project is currently under city staff review and has not yet gone to Calgary Planning Commission or council for a vote.

Despite the reduction, residents are raising alarm about traffic and emergency vehicle access. The development site runs parallel to 85th Street SW, a one-lane-each-way road already handling local traffic. "The road isn't overly wide. It's actually too narrow for two vehicles to go by in a lot of cases," resident Peter Oldcorn said. Jennifer Currie de Urrutia, a resident and community advocate, echoed the concern: "85th itself is already one lane either way and we do see a lot of concerns around safety, parking and just the overall emergency vehicle access. Coming in adding that kind of volume will only continue to increase that density."

Currie de Urrutia acknowledged the density reduction on paper but questioned whether infrastructure can support the remaining scale. "It's a substantial reduction on paper but our concern is that we're still looking at that volume of 1,100 homes, the school and the commercial development that still is raising those flags to the neighbours and individuals in the area as to how the infrastructure will support that level of high-volume growth."

Truman Homes says city servicing technical studies indicate the development can be supported by existing infrastructure. Ward councillor John Pantazopoulos said his office is still in a discovery phase to understand the needs of Calgarians, developers, and the city, including infrastructure assessment.

When asked what a safe and responsible home count would be, Currie de Urrutia deferred to the city: "It's a great question. It's really an outstanding question that we'd like the City to be able to answer in terms of what the transportation impact assessment would be allowable and what would be considered to be a safe number to grow the community at a responsible density level."